The Champion
by Shane C
Summary: While the crew is trying to get some much-needed R&R, they uncover a Yeerk plot to make super-controllers. Marco is a little too close to it when the girl he likes gets involved. All IC, follows original plot of series. Reviews appreciated.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: Okay, folks, I'm back. Sorry about not finishing the Kelbrid Wars yet…I'd just kind of had enough of this next generation of Animorphs I'd accidentally stumbled on with The New Dawn. It's time for a good old-fashioned, middle-of-the-Yeerk-war installation. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing and am not turning a profit from this story.

**The Champion**

My name is Marco. My last name is Nunya, as in none ya business. It's not important, and even if it were, I still wouldn't tell you. I will remain anonymous for as long as possible, because if they find out who I am, it'll be a simple matter for them of using a Dracon beam to separate my body into its individual molecules.

I am not kidding. The Yeerks are here. They're parasites, only a million times worse than a ringworm or whatever. After all, good old Earth parasites can only kill you. Yeerks are space-faring slugs that enter your head, wrap themselves around your brain, and take total control. You become nothing but a broken, shattered puppet as you watch the Yeerk manipulate the ones you love. Jake, my best bud, was one of them. For three days, he was a controller. My mom is host to the most ruthless of the Yeerk generals, Visser One.

I guess you could say the fight is very, very personal for me.

The fight, if you could even call it that. Me, Jake, his beautiful-but-psychotic cousin Rachel, her best friend Cassie, and Tobias. Tobias was just kind of this tagalong of Jake's until that night in the construction site. A damaged Andalite (the good aliens) fighter landed and we all met Elfangor. He warned us about the Yeerk threat, but more importantly, he gave us the power to morph.

Morph. To change into any animal that we can touch. Sounds amazing, right? Well, mostly it is. There are some drawbacks, though. Only two hours in a morph, or you become that animal forever. Tobias is a _nothlit _– someone stuck in a morph. He managed to get himself stuck in a red-tailed hawk morph a few days after we acquired this incredible power.

So anyway, we use this power and knowledge to fight the Yeerks. We hurt them sometimes. Sometimes we barely come out of our half-brained missions alive. Either way, none of us can complain. We can't give up. Without us, the Yeerks would steamroll Earth into one big concentration camp.

They'll probably end up winning even with us fighting them.

Anyway, it'd been an especially rough few weeks for us. Especially rough, as in instead of three horrible nightmares per night, we were having about ten. Missions gone bad. So Jake, being the leader that he was, decided to do something to raise everybody's morale a little. We were at my house, looking on my computer for something fun for us all to do. It may sound stupid to you. _These are the saviors of the human race? They're just a bunch of kids looking for a fun way to spend their weekend. _Well, let me tell you something if you've never been involved in a resistance of a secret alien invasion – it's the little things that keep you going, hanging in there. We all needed some fun in the worst way.

"Check this out," Jake said from the computer. I was putting in my new CD my dad had picked up for me. "A video game competition at the mall. First place is ten thousand bucks!"

"No way!" I exclaimed. I hadn't heard a thing about it. "What games? You know I totally own at Doom."

"No Doom. Mostly a bunch of dogfighting games and strategy-type games," he said disappointedly. I almost barked a laugh. The general resisting the invasion was sticking his nose up at strategy games.

I shouldered him out of the way and read the fine print, and my guts went cold. "Jake, check out the main sponsor."

"The Sharing," he said in a subdued tone of voice. The Sharing was a front organization for the Yeerks. "But why would they -"

"Come on, Jake," I cut him off wearily. Jake was plenty smart, but he just didn't _get _things sometimes. "Fighter and strategy games? The Yeerks are looking for humans well-suited to conquering Earth."

"Why?" he wondered. "The Yeerks are plenty good at that sort of thing. Waiiit," he stopped himself. "What if you put one of those ruthless Yeerk brains in the mind of a master tactician?"

"You'd get a super-controller," I breathed. "This is not good. Jake, you know what this means."

He gave me a depressed look. "Yeah. We won't be getting that vacation. We've got to find a way to stop this competition."


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Hey guys! I'm stoked that I already have reviews. Those of you who've read my stories before know that I live for reviews. Yeah, a warning – updating may be erratic. I'm in Ocean Springs, which is right next to Biloxi, and the hurricane kinda laid the bitch-smack down on us. Between cleaning up the mess and volunteering at the E.R. in Biloxi (dad's a doctor and I'm pre-med – what else can I do?), I'm sorta busy. I'll try not to let recent events turn my story morbid. I love you all, and keep those reviews coming!

**Chapter 2**

Jake had to go home and clean his room. I know it sounds dumb – _Superheroes cleaning their rooms?_ But Jake has to clean his room every Friday after school before he's allowed to do anything for the weekend. I was more fortunate in that area. Me and my dad lived alone, and he was just as messy as I was, so it was cool.

Since Jake was busy, it was up to me to call around and break the bad news. I decided to get the most difficult of the Animorphs out of the way and call Rachel first. She picked up on the second ring. "Hello?"

"Rachel, what's up?" I asked, trying to sound cheerful.

"No!" she said instantly. "You're trying to sound uppity. That means something is wrong. I _do not _want to hear it, Marco. I'm just about to order my Rob Thomas tickets for this weekend."

"Don't waste your money. We've got business to take care of. I'll see you at Cassie's in two hours," I said, totally dejected. I hated being the bearer of bad news. Rachel muttered a curse and hung up the phone. I called Cassie, who humbly accepted the fact that duty came before playtime, and said she'd be in the barn when we got there.

I opened my bedroom door a crack. My dad was supposed to be at the store, but you never knew. "Hey, dad! I'm going to download a bunch of video games on your work computer, okay?" I yelled.

"The hell you are!" came the shout from the living room. "I'm working at it right now, anyway."

"Okay. I'm going to Jake's," I yelled, making a big show of stomping down the stairs and slamming the front door. I crept back upstairs and locked the door to my room. After opening the window, I began to morph.

The osprey began to assert itself over my human features almost immediately. The first things to change were my eyes. Suddenly, instead of my vision being kind of unfocused at the hedges of my backyard, I could see _through _the hedges. Well, the gaps in the leaves, anyway. My body shrank as the feathers popped out. My bones stretched thin and hollow. After maybe two, two and a half minutes, I was fully osprey. I hopped up to my windowsill, saw that no one was in range to notice a bird of prey flying out of a bedroom window, and hopped out.

This part was always nerve-wracking. Jumping out of a two-story window as a human is bad enough. Try it when you're only a foot tall. I began flapping as the ground rushed toward me. My decent slowed, and miraculously, reversed. I got up above the tree line and headed for the part of the forest where I'd find Ax and Tobias.

I spotted Ax galloping along a semi-open meadow and yelled out to him in thought-speech. (Hey, Ax-man!)

(Marco!) he called back. (What's up?) he asked with a wave, and I mentally smiled. Ax is an Andalite, but human culture is rubbing off on him quite a bit. It was funny that he acted more like a human when he was in his own body. When he actually morphed a human, he was too busy playing with words and looking for things to taste to remember to act normal.

(I'm going to find Tobias. The Yeerks are up to something big. Get some feathers and I'll meet you at the barn.) From 100 feet up, I saw him give a slight nod of his head and he trotted off to some trees for some privacy to morph.

I didn't have to wait long to find Tobias. Actually, he found me. (I really hope that's one of you guys,) he called. (If it's not, I'm going to have to kick your butt for hanging around my meadow.) I searched the trees and couldn't see him.

(It's me, bird-boy,) I answered. (The Yeerks are setting something up that we have to knock down. Let's go to Cassie's.)

Tobias let out a thought-groan. (Man! I was really looking forward to some downtime as a human. These aliens are really getting on my nerves.)

I wholeheartedly agreed…but an idea was slowly forming in my head. I explained the situation to Tobias on the way. I knew we'd have to go over it again for everybody else's sake, but I needed someone on my side.

When I was done telling him what we'd discovered, I could almost see the wheels grinding in Tobias' bird head. (Well, of course some of us would need to be human to observe this competition.)

(Yeah. And the easiest way to get in would be for some of us to actually _enter _the competition.)

(Which would be a fun way to spend the weekend. Plus, we'd still be stopping the Yeerks,) Tobias said hesitantly.

(Exactly,) I said as we flared into the barn where the others were waiting. (Maybe you'd better bring it up like it was your idea,) I said to Tobias in private thought speech. (You _are _the most responsible one, after all. Jake -)

(Let me worry about Jake,) Tobias said. (Me and you are gonna enter that competiton.) I began demorphing, glad that I was still far more bird than human. I didn't want anybody to see the diabolical grin I couldn't stop from showing.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 

I demorphed and settled in on an especially large bale of hay as Jake paced, struggling with what to say. I knew he was deep in thought because of the ten-thousand wrinkles on his forehead. He stopped walking and looked up as if seeing me and Tobias for the first time. "All right. The Yeerks are putting on a video game competition at the mall this weekend."

"That's convenient for you boys," Rachel said bitterly. "Why couldn't they be trying to infest people at the Rob Thomas concert?"

Jake cleared his throat. "I'm sure the Yeerks had the male Animorphs enjoyment in mind when they chose to do this, Rachel. Anyway, the point is, they're going to be using this as a cover to single out humans with a natural ability for piloting and strategy."

(This is probably so, Prince Jake. Reaction times and such would make for superior controller-pilots. If a Yeerk could access a brain with an anomylously superior grasp on tactics, it would make an ideal host body for Yeerk Vissers.) I stiffened when Ax said this. My mom was the host body of Visser One. Was she one of these anomalies?

"Right. So how do we stop them?" Jake asked, palms out. "Any ideas?"

"Stomp the competiton? Blow it up?" Rachel suggested.

"In addition to hurting people, they'd just move the competition somewhere else, out of our reach. We need to be subtle," I warned.

"Sabotage the competition in a way the Yeerks wouldn't know they'd been foiled? At least until the competition was over?" Cassie mused.

(Now you're talking,) Tobias said. (Marco's pretty good at video games, and I gotta tell you, I wasn't half-bad before I got myself stuck in a bird's body.)

Rachel glared. "So you want to go in and win this competition? Without anyone noticing that the boy who disappeared just showed up out of nowhere to compete in this big huge contest?"

Tobias flared a little, but his thought-speak voice was calm. (Nobody would be looking for me, but that's not the point. The point is that even if Marco and I could win this thing, the Yeerks would be looking to make a controller out of us two, which wouldn't do at all.)

"Unless…" I said, a ghost of an idea forming in the back of my mind. "Ax, do you think you could reprogram the system to trade scores? The best player the worst and the worst the best and so on?"

Ax scoffed. (That would be childishly simple.)

I bowed to invisible applause. "The Yeerks are giving money and a tour of Activision studios as the prize to the top three gamers. I guarantee you they infest the top three at the studio. So what we'd be doing is giving them the worst three strategists and pilots in the state. The complete opposite of what they set out to do."

Cassie looked troubled. "Yeah, but we'd still be giving them three humans to infest."

Rachel just looked fiercely enthusiastic. "You wanna make an omelet, you gotta break some eggs. This is a fantastic way to make waste of the Yeerks' time and resources, not to mention get some Yeerk generals into some military-minded cripples."

Cassie looked shocked at Rachel's opinion of the plan. Jake looked disturbed but determined. "I see where both of you are coming from. I don't like it, but it's the only plan we've got for now. Tobias, Marco, get yourselves signed up. Maybe the rest of us can catch a movie or something before we have to deal with the slugs tomorrow."


	4. Chapter 4

A/N – This fic isn't dead! I decided to work on it, now that I'm coming to the end of The Kelbrid Wars. I'll finish this fairly quickly, probably…it's based on the other books in the series, and isn't especially twisty. By the way, it takes place somewhere in between book 13 and book 19. Enjoy!

Chapter 4

Tobias, in human morph, tripped twice walking to my house with me. The second time, I had rolled my eyes, but had held my tongue. Tobias still wasn't used to being in human form, although the Ellimist had given him the ability a while back, and I tried not to bust on him about it. The decision to live as a hawk to stay in the fight when it would be so easy for him to bail…well, I had more than a little respect for him because of it.

I saw my dad's car in the driveway, but I was hoping he'd be working in his office. My dad was cool about me bringing friends over, but Tobias still had a tendency to stare. And not say anything. And flap his arms like wings when he was startled. My dad pretty much stayed out of my business, and I wanted to keep it that way. I didn't want him asking, "So Marco, when did you decide to play with kids who pretend to be birds?"

As we entered the house, my dad was propped up on the couch by several pillows. At least he was dressed – ever since he'd decided he'd grieved enough over my dead mother (who is _not_ dead – but that's another issue entirely,) he'd lost the habit of living on the couch in an open robe. He was watching a basketball game, the Final Four, which was something I definitely would have been all over a year earlier. Basketball just didn't feel so exciting now that I was getting shot at on a weekly basis.

"Hey dad, this is Tobias. We're signing up for the video game competition this weekend at the mall," I said quickly, and tried to get away before my dad came out of his sports-coma.

"Ho, hold up there!" he said. "Nice to meet you, Tobias. Don't you want to watch?" he asked mildly. "Final Four. It just started."

"No point," Tobias said, startling me. "Oklahoma's got it in the bag. If you don't believe me, just watch their power forward shine glass."

My dad grinned. "All right, point taken. Duke might give 'em a run, though," he said, waving us off. We tromped up the steps to my room.

Once the door was shut, I turned and gave Tobias an incredulous look. "Since when do you know _anything_ about college hoops?"

Even though he was still getting used to human facial expressions, he managed to look sheepish. "Jake's been sneaking me into his house for a couple of weeks now to watch the tournament. I guess I've picked up some terminology from him."

"Nice. My best friend would rather watch sports with a bird than his best bud," I grumbled, logging on to the web. I quickly found the website I was looking for, and signed myself up for the tournament. As I pulled up another application, I said, "Whoa, wait. We can't sign you up as yourself, obviously."

Tobias looked thoughtful. "Just put me down as Hawke. Toby Hawke."

"You gotta be kidding me, you nerd," I said, but did as he said and signed up Toby Hawke for the competition. "You got any game in particular you want to sign up for?"

Tobias studied the list of available games, and shrugged. "I've been out of it a while, man. I've never played any of these."

"Crisis Zone? Fly! Grand Theft Auto? Mechwarrior 3? You've never played any of these?" I asked in disbelief. He shook his head. "No _wonder_ you decided to stay a bird." He didn't say anything, and despite myself, I felt a little bad. "Fly! is an awesome flight simulator, and not many people signed up for it. I'd say with your superior knowledge of the air, you'd be a shoe-in for that one."

"Sure, that's fine. You do realize that we don't actually have to win, Marco? We just have to be there, get to know the system enough to let Ax do his thing."

I logged off and went to my closet. "Sure, I know that. But that doesn't mean that I'm not going to dominate anyone who gets in my way." I turned and studied the outfit he had on, and snorted. The clothes Rachel left for Tobias at Cassie's barn were ridiculous – he looked like a prep-school dork. I tossed him a plaid shirt and pair of jeans. "Change, please. What you're wearing makes _me_ want to shove your head in a toilet, and I'm your friend," I told him.

He hesitated. "You know, I don't have to go to the movie with you guys. I mean, I could care less who Stallone is saving the world from."

I had kind of expected this. Tobias was a loner by nature – now that he was a hawk, that quality more than any other dominated his personality. I was under orders from Rachel to make sure he was there, though. Ever since Tobias had regained the ability to become human, Rachel felt obliged to include him in every human activity that she could. She was a little fanatical about it. And one thing I do not do is get in Rachel's way when she's fanatical about something.

"Come on, man. Friday night at the theatre – chicks trying to look their best, concession stand goodies, two hours of blood-and-guts martial arts action? Not to mention Ax getting a second chance to act normal at a movie? Don't tell me you've got something better to do at your meadow," I said.

Tobias shrugged, but he began changing. Good. I wasn't best friends with the guy, but I _did_ happen to think he needed to be normal once in a while. Him maybe more than any of us.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"All right," Jake said. "Here's the plan. We go in, watch about an hour of the movie. Me, Tobias, and Ax will then leave. The rest of you stay another few minutes so it doesn't look like the six of us are one big group, then you can leave, too." We were all loosely gathered in the lobby of the theatre, a few minutes before the movie started. Even though this was supposed to be relaxing and fun, Jake was in leader mode. "Ax, how long do you and Tobias have left?"

Ax was staring longingly at the concession stand. "One hour and forty-two of your minutes, Prince Jake," he said distractedly, not taking his eyes off of the popcorn machine. "May I have some human money now? To purchase the items with grease and salt-tuh?"

I sighed. Ax was brave and hard to distract – when he was in his own body. In human morph, the sense of taste took complete priority over everything else. "Ax, no Prince stuff tonight," I said before Jake could. "Not to mention that right now, we all have the same minutes and money."

"Yes. Sorry. Saw-ree. I am Jake's cousin from out of town. I will behave as such."

Jake rolled his eyes. "Maybe I should handle the food," he said. "Save me a seat."

"Me too," Cassie said quickly. I guess she realized how it looked, because she added, "There's six of us. That's a lot for one person to carry." Her and Jake are a _thing_, but their favorite game was pretending that they weren't.

The movie was a few weeks old, so even though the previews were on when we walked in, the theatre was only half full. I led everyone to seats almost all the way to the top. Rachel complained a bit, but followed me.

"Human eyes are lame," Tobias whispered. "We're like, sixty feet away from a three-story screen. A hawk could watch this from a mile and a half away, easy."

"Yeah? Well I want to sit at the top, where I'm able to see the whole room with these lame eyes," I replied. I had unconsciously picked up a few precautionary habits since our fight with the Yeerks started – being in a position to see most of whatever room I was in was only one of the habits.

"Where is Prince Ja – I mean, where is Jake with the food?" Ax asked.

Rachel snickered. "We've been away from them for like a minute," she said. "They have to wait in line."

"Ah yes, a line. A way for humans to orderly wait their turn. Is there no way they can bypass the line in order to get their items more quickly?" Ax asked. Someone a few rows forward shushed him.

The movie started then, and I let myself get caught up. It wasn't often I got to forget real life and zone out, and it was actually really fun. Stallone was stomping all over terrorists from the opening credits. It was totally unrealistic – I knew from experience that guns _did_ run out of bullets, that one good guy against twenty bad guys didn't really stand much of a chance, and more often than not you didn't happen to fall down an elevator shaft and land right next to a loaded gun – but it was still fun. At some point, Jake and Cassie squeezed past me with trays of popcorn, nachos, and sodas. Every now and then, an exclamation or comment from Ax would make me laugh, but for the most part, things were going smoothly.

Way too soon, Jake tapped my leg. "We gotta go. Remember, wait a few minutes before you guys leave," he whispered, and then half-dragged Ax away from a half-eaten slice of pizza. Tobias, smirking, followed them. I started watching the movie again, with every intent to finish it. Hey, I'd paid my eight bucks, and it wasn't like _I_ had a two hour limit to worry about right now.

I guess it was a few minutes later when Rachel and Cassie stood up to leave. "Aw, come on!" I said. "It's just getting good."

"We have a responsibility to the others, Marco," Rachel whispered back. "We need to make sure everything went okay."

We were supposed to meet up at Cassie's barn after the movie, just to regroup and run down the plan for tomorrow one more time. I suddenly felt rebellious, for some reason. Why did everything have to be a plan? Why couldn't I just go to the movies and take my time about it? I was about to voice these questions when Cassie got my attention. "I know it sucks, Marco. We can't even take enough of a break to watch some cheesy movie to the end. But we _do_ need to check on the others. And you get to show your skills at the gaming convention tomorrow."

Definitive Cassie. She'd reminded me of my responsibility and pointed out I was going to get to have some more fun tomorrow simultaneously. I knew I was being manipulated, even if it was in a nice way, and I couldn't even get mad at her about it. I got up to leave with the girls, thinking, 'I don't care what the mission is tomorrow – I am _going_ to have some fun before we get into a life-or-death battle.'


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

I was stomping toward my third straight victory of the night. "No one can stop Mighty Marco," I crowed as I shredded Jake's Mech with lasers. "Oh, it's over!" Jake reached forward and unplugged my controller. As I scrambled to plug it back in, I ate a barrage of missiles and exploded. I gave up trying to plug in my controller and squared off with Jake, putting my fists up. "Forget the game, cheater. Let's do this."

Jake grinned and flipped his own controller onto the bed beside him. "I think it's pretty clear you've got an edge on me in Mechwarrior. What about F-Zero?" He motioned to the racing game on his desk. It was still in the plastic packaging.

"Didn't your mom get you that for your birthday last month?" I asked. "And you haven't even opened it yet?" We were chilling in Jake's room, later that night. After the movie and the meeting at the Wildlife Rehab Center, I'd ridden my bike over to Jake's. It had been a while since we'd done something normal, like a sleepover. Jake's dad was going to drive us to the mall in the morning.

Jake shrugged. "Haven't really had the time for video games," he said nonchalantly, but it still made me a little sad. 'When's the last time _you_ begged _your_ dad for a new game?' I asked myself. I couldn't come up with an answer.

"Yeah, well, you should make time," I said, feeling a little hypocritical. "If your mom saw an unopened video game on your desk, she'd start to wonder."

"Wonder about what?" came a slightly older voice from beyond Jake's door. I spun around to see Tom peering through the crack. A rush of cold fear hit my gut. Jake's older brother Tom is one of them. A controller. A very high-ranking Yeerk, from what we could gather.

I played it cool. "Wonder why, even though he owns his own Playstation, I still demolish Jake at every game I put my hands on."

Tom smiled coolly and came into the room. Jake stiffened the tiniest bit – if I hadn't been sitting on the bed next to him, I wouldn't have caught it. "I forgot – you're the video game wiz," Tom said jokingly. "Care to test your skills against mine? I mean, there's no way a punk kid like you could take me, but I'm willing to let you try."

See, that's the problem with controllers. Controller-Tom said exactly what Normal Tom would have said. He put just the right amount of big-brother arrogance in it. Totally normal for a big brother to intrude on his little brother and shove him out of the way like he did, picking up the controller without asking. If I didn't know better, I wouldn't have thought twice about it. Even though I _did_ know better, a part of me didn't want to believe it. He was just way too good of an actor.

Me and Tom played for a while. I beat him mercilessly, and talked trash the whole time, just like Tom's Yeerk expected of me. But I noticed that Jake didn't join in. He never demanded to play, didn't take any pleasure in the fact his best friend was beating up on his cocky older brother. He just sat there, stealing glances at Tom.

After a while, Tom passed the controller to Jake. He got up to leave, but when he got to the door, he turned as if he'd suddenly remembered something. "I can't believe I forgot – tomorrow, the Sharing is putting on a video game competition at the mall. I'm working it for them – I could totally get you guys a late registration, if you want to go. Marco might even stand a chance," he said the last part teasingly. Jake just stared, so I took over.

"Yeah, I already signed up. Jake's going with me – you know, moral support. He knows there's no way he can hang."

Tom peered at Jake. "You sure, little bro? Like I said, I can get you in. No risk, just go have some fun."

Jake seemed to shake himself out of his funk. He smiled. "I'd really rather not put myself through the embarrassment. Besides, watching Marco get crushed will be more fun."

Tom nodded. "Cool. Well, you're both going. That's cool, anyway. Maybe you and I can grab lunch, Jake. You know, we don't spend enough time together." He snapped his fingers like he had a great idea. "Why don't I drive you guys? We're all going to the same place. What do you say?"

I knew what Jake was feeling. That sick helplessness. The insane urge to grab Tom by the ears and look deep into his eyes, all the way to the Yeerk in his brain. The urge to yell, "I know what you are! I know! You're not my brother!"

What he said instead was, "Yeah, that would be cool. And I'll take you up on lunch, if you're buying." Perfect. Exactly what he should have said.

"Cool. I'll see you guys at breakfast, then." He looked around conspiratorially. "Don't tell the folks. I'm going to slip out for a couple of hours." I belatedly noticed he had been wearing his shoes and coat the whole time. "Regina wants to hang out at the pier. But I'll see you clowns in the morning." He left, trying to be quiet on the stairs. Jake let out a long sigh and put his head in his hands.

I didn't know what to say. I knew Jake lived with a Yeerk, but it had been a while since I'd had to see it. I felt guilty for not paying more attention. I never stopped to think how much of a toll it took on him, to have to pretend to be okay with it shoved in his face every day. "Dude.." I started.

Jake didn't take his face out of his hands. "Don't, Marco. It's okay. I do it all the time. It just sucks, you know? This video game competition is something that me and Tom _should_ be doing together. I _should_ be covering for him while he sneaks out to see some girl. Instead, I'm going to spend time with my brother the puppet, even though it's probably horrible for him. Instead, I'm keeping the Yeerk's secrets from my parents instead of Tom's. And there is nothing I can do about it. If I do anything other than pretend to be ignorant, it's going to be my whole family instead of just Tom."

I thought of my mom, and wondered if it would be easier or harder on me if I had to look at her every day and know she was a controller. I decided it would be harder, and felt a new, deeper sympathy for my bud, Jake. Or maybe it was empathy I was feeling. "I know how bad it is," I said, dropping my voice so he'd know I was totally serious. "I can't say I know how it feels to have it in my face 24/7, but I know how it feels to be helpless. To know what's happening to them, and not be able to do anything. Just know this, my friend – one day, we _will_ free them. One day, we'll be able to tell them we knew the whole time, and we waited for the perfect time. We can explain how hard it was on us to stand by, even for a while, and ask them to forgive us."

Jake finally lifted his head. His eyes were dry, thankfully – I'd only ever seen Jake cry once, and that was when he'd crashed his bike and broken his arm. "That's what I'm fighting for. That's the one day that will make all this worth it." He stuck out his hand, and I shook it. "Thanks for understanding."

I decided that was enough seriousness for one night. "Bust out that new game. It's time you learned, once and for all, who's the master. I'll give you a head start, it won't even matter. You have no chance -" I was cut off when Jake threw his comforter over my head and sat on me.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Wake up, you slackers!" was the insanely loud bellow that popped me out of my dreams. I jerked my head up in time to see Tom frog Jake's sleeping body in the arm. "Argh!" Jake grunted groggily as Tom left the bedroom. Again, perfectly normal. Again, nothing normal about some slug using Jake's brother as a marionette.

"Jeez," Jake muttered as he sat up and rubbed his arm. "That wake-up is one thing I wish _would_ change around here." I was still trying to slow my heart rate down. Being woken violently from a dead sleep was rarely a good thing when you were an Animorph.

I pulled on my T-shirt from yesterday. "I smell bacon. That's one thing I miss about sleeping over here – your family is big on breakfast. My dad's idea of a nutritious breakfast is actually putting the Pop-tart in the toaster."

Jake, not bothering to change out of his PJs, rolled out of his bed, his foot narrowly missing my head. "Whatever. I'd trade the food for an extra hour of sleep." Jake is not a morning person.

We stomped down the stairs, both rubbing the sleep from our eyes. Tom and Jake's dad were already sitting around the table. Jake's mom was finishing up cooking. I took my place at the guests' seat, and felt a pang for my own mother. Back when she was around, this had been a normal scene at my house, too.

"So," Jake's dad said, digging into the plate his wife set down in front of him. "Hope the movie was worth it, guys. You missed a hell of a game last night."

"Yeah," Tom agreed. "I'm going to try to finish early this afternoon so I can get us back for the finals."

"You're welcome to join them, Marco," Jake's mom told me as she set another plate in front of me and sat down herself. "My living room is going to be full of grunting cavemen anyway. No reason why you shouldn't join the fun." She subtly checked me out; Jake's mom had been really upset when my mom had disappeared, and had told me several times that I was always welcome at their house. She never came out and said it, but I knew she had been worried about me since it happened. It was something normal, something nice. It would have been even nicer if I could have appreciated it without that gnawing suspicion that she might have some ulterior motive.

"Thanks, Mrs. B. If they don't decide to call the competition off a day early and crown me the champ, I'll be there," I said, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Marco's convinced he's the best gamer in the state," Tom staged-whispered to his dad. "He has no idea the level of competition he's up against."

"What _is_ the level of competition going to be like, Tom?" Jake asked. "I mean, there has to be some advantage to my jerk brother running the competition."

Tom laughed easily. "First of all, I am but a servant. I don't run anything. But if it's inside info you want, I got some. "Some of the testers from two of the different gaming studios formed teams and signed up. Those guys are pros," he said, injecting just the right amount of awe into his voice.

"Boys that play video games for a living," Jake's mom said disapprovingly, shaking her head. "That's who I want my sons hanging around."

"No, it's really cool, Mom," Tom argued. "Those guys have to go to school for computer design, then they…" I drifted off as he prattled on, playing his part of a normal high-schooler. In my head, I was wondering how we were going to pull off our overall mission – stopping, or at least sabotaging, the competition. Having Tom involved was going to make things harder. Me, Jake, and Rachel wouldn't be able to do much. We'd have to be visible when the sabotage actually went down – we could _not_ give Tom any reason at all to be suspicious of us. 'I guess we'll just have to wing it, as usual,' I said to myself.

"..and everybody who's anybody is going to be there. Think of all the connections I'm going to make this weekend! I might be able to get a scholarship or something to a graphic design school," Tom was saying. Right. Like the Yeerk in Tom's head was really worried about his college future. If he had it his way, by the time college rolled around, Harvard would be a Yeerk pool.

"Well, don't give up on an actual education so young," Jake's mom said. She gathered mine and Jake's plates. "Get upstairs and get ready, boys. Tom has to be there shortly." We did as she said, and ten minutes later, we were in his parents' station wagon. Tom was driving too fast, showing off, and once again I couldn't help but marvel at the show Tom's Yeerk was putting on.

"This is cool," Tom said for the third time since we'd left the house. "I don't know why we don't do stuff like this more often. On one hand, it sucks to be hanging out with underclassmen," he joked. "On the other hand, as far as worms go, you two aren't so bad." I physically had to stop myself from saying, "Who's the worm?"

"You know what I'm saying," he continued on, more to Jake than me. "Video games all day at the mall, then a b-ball championship party at night. If you would just open up your mind a little, consider joining the Sharing, we could do stuff like this all the time."

Even though I knew Jake would join the Sharing at about the same time he would go skydiving without a parachute, it still gave me the willies. Tom was still working on Jake to join the Yeerk organization, even though he'd been shut down by Jake in just about every possible way. 'Say what you want about the slimy creeps, but they're persistant,' I thought.

"I know," Jake said. "It would be cool to spend more time together, but I have absolutely zero free time right now. Johnson is _killing_ me in algebra – right now I'm looking at a D, and if you tell mom and dad that, I'll deny knowing you. I already have no time to practice my ball skills, and you know I want to make the team next year. I've just got too much on my plate right now."

Tom nodded thoughtfully as we pulled into the parking lot. "I'm just saying, think about it. Slow down. Be a kid, for God's sake." He dropped it as we swung into a parking space about a half a mile from the mall. The lot was already packed, and the stores in the mall didn't open for an hour. This tournament was obviously a big deal.

Tom slipped some sort of ID badge over his head. "I have to go through the employee entrance," he said, indicating a small door off to the side of the main entrance. "You guys have to go to the food court. That's where they're having registration. I'll look for you around lunchtime, bro. Good luck, Marco. You got this," he said, offering me a fist-bump. I knuckled him only reluctantly, and me and Jake headed for the crowd in front of the food court.

When Tom was out of earshot, I said, "Jake, I know you don't like talking about it, so I'll only say it once. I'm sorry about Tom."

Jake looked surprised. "Yeah, me too. But you know, it's not that bad, hanging out with him. I mean, I know he's a controller and all, but Tom's still in there, too. I like to think that he feels a little victory every time I make it clear I won't be joining the Sharing anytime soon."

I had never thought of it like that. "I'll bet you're right. I'll bet that's at least one thing Tom can point to and say, 'Take that, Yeerk scum. My brother's too smart for you, you'll never get him.' That's probably why he keeps trying to get you to join so hard."

We stopped talking about it, because we were approaching the crowd. Jake said under his breath, "We're here to register you and get ready for some gaming. But we're also looking for anything – _anything_ – that we can use to make this go belly up. Keep your eyes peeled."

I snickered. "Dude, I'm more observant than you in my sleep." We stepped up to the table that had a placard with the letter of my last name. "I can crush nerds and ruin certain people's plans at the same time."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

I knew I was supposed to be scouting the competition for opportunities for sabotage. I knew I was supposed to be keeping an eye out for Tom, or Chapman, or any of the other known controllers. It wasn't my fault that an angel happened to walk into my life.

Jessie. At least, that's what her nametag said. She was short, so I wouldn't have to stretch to kiss her. She was gorgeous, of course, but in a no-nonsense sort of way that I liked. Her hair was silky, but pulled back into a ponytail. She had a great figure – I'm talking _great_. But what really attracted me was the way she was owning three guys at Halo.

"What's up, dude? Didn't see that sniper rifle laying there?" she asked innocently as she disintegrated one of her opponents. "Ah, that's okay. I'm sure you're letting me win. Because I'm a _girl_ and all – isn't that what you said a minute ago?" The timer above the Xbox display hit zero, and the scoreboard declared her the winner by a wide margin.

She blew on the controller like it was a smoking gun, and walked off toward the lounge area they'd set up for the gamers in between contests. I followed her, magnetized. I saw Jake out of the corner of my eye, shaking his head like he didn't approve. Not important, though. Jessie sat down on a couch, and I leaned over the back of it.

"Hey, I'm Marco," I said in my most sensual voice. "And you're amazing."

She didn't look up from her magazine. "Beat it, nerd."

I wasn't the least bit put off. If anything, I was more interested. Beautiful _and_ tough? Killer combo. And there was a chance she wasn't a psychopath, like some other hot blonde I knew.

"I will. If you'll talk to me for five minutes and tell me you don't feel anything, I'll hit the road forever."

She finally looked up, and I gave her my most winning smile. She smiled, too, but I couldn't help but notice the short snicker that went with it. "All right, dude, you got thirty seconds. Blow my mind."

I hopped the back of the couch, sitting beside her. I pushed my hair back behind my ear. I didn't break eye contact even for a second. See, that's the secret. Constant eye contact. Girls can't resist it. Okay, it creeps some girls out, but it works on most of them. Some of them, at least.

"I'm sure you get it all the time, so I'm not going to tell you how gorgeous you are. I'm not going to drool all over you like the other dorks around here. Let's skip all of that – I'm attractive, you're attractive. Let me get to know you. Where are you from? What are your hobbies, other than crushing the dreams of video nerds? Tell me _anything_ other than you've got a boyfriend."

She looked at me, amused. Hey, at least it wasn't disgust. I could work with amused. "Well…Marco," she said, reading my own name tag, even though I was sure it was an act. She had noticed when I told her my name. Maybe. "This is a new one, at least. Nice Rico Suave act. No, I don't have a boyfriend. I haven't met a guy who could handle me yet." She looked me up and down, and tried her best to look unimpressed. "Sorry if it sounds mean, but I don't think you're that guy."

I pressed the offensive, now that I'd broken through the outer defenses. "Oh, but I _am_ that guy. I'm quick – quick enough to keep up with you. I'm smart. I'm funny. I'm in your league in the looks department. We were made for each other."

She made a face. "Modest, too. So, what? You think you're going to come over here, drop a few lines, and boom! We're together? Just like that? You don't even know me, dude."

"Give me a chance. That's all I'm saying. Let's go on a date. This afternoon, after the competition shuts down for the day."

She appeared to think about it, and my heart fluttered. I hadn't gotten this far in a while – usually, I was shut down right about the time I got to the 'you're hot, I'm hot' part. "All right, Marco. I'll make you a deal. You beat me in the competition, or at least finish higher than me, and I'll let you take me out. One date," she clarified. "A short one. But it's a non-issue, since you don't stand a chance."

I smiled my most winning smile again, and stuck my hand out. She shook it. "Cool," I said. "I guess I'll see you in the tournament, then." That was another trick I'd picked up from The Guy Manual. Always close first. Don't wait to be shut down. She snickered and made her way back into the crowd of gamers, and even though I knew I shouldn't, I couldn't help myself. I stood up on the couch and yelled after her, "Hey! Nice to meet you, Jessie!" She didn't turn around, but she shook her head as she disappeared from view.

"Happy?" Jake asked from behind me as he grabbed my shirt to pull me down off of the couch. "We've been here five minutes, and you've already grossed out a girl. That's close to your record."

I scoffed at him. "Weren't you listening? I got her to agree to go out with me."

He pointed to a cluster of TVs and gaming systems. "You're up there, first. And you'd better win, or you won't be getting that date."

I glared at him as I took my controller. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, man."

He didn't reply immediately. The timer began to count down the time before the game started. "Good luck, dude," Jake said. "I'm going to wander around, scope things out," he said with an edge to his voice. He was reminding me that he, at least, was going to work. I waved him away, already zoned in. I had to beat these three clowns beside me before I was going to even _think_ about anything else.

Jake sighed. "Meet me in the lounge in thirty minutes," he said, and it sounded like an order.

"Thirty minutes. Got it. Go away," I said as the timer beeped and the game began. He sighed again, and left me to win my date with my dream girl.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"So all the game data – the points, winners, everything – is all sent via wireless internet to a kind of command center," Jake was saying. I'd just passed through to the third round of the tournament, but it wasn't exactly a walk in the park. I was already stressing about my deal with Jessie – if the competition kept getting stiffer, I wasn't sure how long I was going to be able to hang in. Jake snapped his fingers in front of my face. "Earth to Marco. See that?" he asked, pointing to a row of tables loaded down with servers and laptops. "That's where everything is processed. It's right in the middle of everything, and there's about twenty guys watching it like hawks. I have no idea how we're going to get Ax close enough to do anything."

I scanned the area he was talking about for myself. "We don't just have to bypass the tech guys. I see four – no, five – security guards in the vicinity."

Jake saw the rent-a-cops I was talking about. "Why would they go through all that trouble?" he wondered. "At the end of the day, it's just a video game tournament."

"Now who's losing sight of the big picture?" I asked him. "This is anything _but_ a tournament. This is a concentrated search for the top three gamers in the state. Even the ten thousand bucks for first place is worthless, compared to what…_they_…want out of this weekend."

Jake nodded thoughtfully. "You're right. They can justify the security by claiming they don't want anyone to cheat their way to the money. But I guess, on some level, they're ready for us to try to disrupt their plans."

"Hey, Jake! Marco!" a shout from behind us. We turned to see Rachel and Cassie approaching us. Rachel, as usual, was carrying ten bags of various sizes, all from different stores. Cassie looked relieved to be getting a break from shopping – which, with Rachel, was more of a workout than a hobby. 'Power shopping,' she called it.

"What a huge shock to see you guys here," I said. We were supposed to be meeting up at random for the benefit of any controllers watching, especially Tom. "Come to watch me dominate my inferiors?"

Rachel checked her watch. "This thing's been going, what, two hours? And you're still in it?" she asked. "Must be some luck you got on you, today."

"Ha ha. And also ha," I said. "You're just jealous that I'm better than you at something."

Jake cut off Rachel's reply by clearing his throat. He gave them the quick version of the situation. Cassie chewed her lip for a moment, then said, "Well, there's a relatively easy way to get Ax onto one of those laptops. But it's…not exactly ethical."

Rachel and Jake stared blankly at her. I shook my head in mock annoyance. "Come on. Seriously? She's suggesting that Ax morph one of the tech guys." Cassie shrugged, looking uncomfortable.

"I admit, there are a few things that could go wrong, even _if_ we decide it's necessary," she said mildly.

"Oh yeah, just a few minor issues," I said sarcastically. "Like the fact Ax has to acquire the guy as an Andalite. Even if he's _not_ a controller, I don't think he's going to be cool about that. Not to mention we'd have to temporarily imprison the guy while Ax was pretending to be him."

"It was just an idea. I'm sure we could come up with something else," Cassie said quickly. I could tell that she'd been hoping I'd shoot her idea down. Cassie was never comfortable about morphing sentient creatures, let alone other humans.

"Yeah, maybe," Rachel said. "But until we do, I think that's our Plan A." Jake nodded his agreement.

"Speaking of the space cadet, where is he?" I asked.

"Him and Tobias should be here any time now," Rachel said. I could hear the worry in her voice. Ax was hard enough to control in human morph with all of us chaperoning. Obviously, she wasn't comfortable dumping the whole job on Tobias, even for only a short while.

"I hate to do it, but he's going to be all you guys', at least for a little bit," Jake said, checking his own watch. "Tom cornered me a few minutes ago, and I'm supposed to meet him at Sombrero Amigo for lunch. On one hand, I'll be out of commission for a while. On the other, you guys will have a little breathing room to operate with Tom across the street."

I stared. "So, what? You want us to go for it without you?" It wasn't like we needed Jake around every minute of the day, but he was the leader. He was the quarterback, there to call an audible if we had to switch up our game plan on the fly.

He shrugged and looked uncomfortable, but said, "Yeah. Why not? It's going to be the best time to pull it off, with Tom out of the building. You guys got this," he said confidently, but I could tell it was a little forced.

We all stood around for a moment, Rachel looking cocky, Cassie looking worried. Jake checked his watch again. "Well? Get out of here, _mom_," Rachel said. "Like you said, we got this."

"Okay. No big deal. Just…we're off the grid on this one, guys. The whole point is that we don't want the Yeerks to know what we've done until its too late. That means no rampaging elephants," he said. He didn't look at Rachel specifically, but I knew who he was talking to. Rachel laughed – she knew who he was talking to, too.

The PA system crackled. "Contestant 121, you have one minute to report before disqualification." I stood around for a second before I realized, belatedly, they were calling for _me_.

"Crap! Jake, get going. You two wait here for me. Don't do anything until I get back," I said. Rachel nodded, but it was more of a _yeah, yeah_ than actual agreement. "I'm serious!" I yelled as I hopped a partition and sprinted toward the gaming area.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N – So, what's up? I know I've left this story hanging for a long while, but you mean to tell me there's _no_ decent people left on ffn to leave a review? Besides uncutetomboy, of course – thanks, hon ;) . Come on. The hit tracker doesn't lie – this is one of my more popular fics, according to the traffic. You remember that Blockbuster slogan back when they had tapes? Be kind, rewind? Well, be kind, review. :D . Addendum – thanks to you too, Kaprycorn Hunt!

Chapter 10

I used my sleeve to mop the sweat from my forehead. The last round of competition for the day had been intense – not that I'd ever admit it to my friends, but I was actually worried I was going to lose for a while there. I checked the leaderboard and saw that about half the original participants were still in it after the first day. Jessie was near the top. I was in the middle of the pack. '_But still in it,_' I reminded myself.

I started looking for the others. I spotted them walking toward me, all four of them. Cassie and Rachel, of course; Tobias, who looked way too nervous to be a kid at the mall, and Ax, who looked rather unimpressed at all the high-tech gaming stations.

As always, it was weird seeing Ax in human morph. He'd performed what he called a _Frolis Maneuver_ – basically, he put me, Jake, Rachel, Cassie, and Tobias' DNA all in a blender to use for his human morph. He looked like a weirdly pretty, strangely familiar kid. One of those people that get to be models not because they're extraordinarily beautiful, but because there's no one else that looks like them on the planet. Totally unique, and uniquely disturbing.

I started to say what's up to them, but the loudspeaker cut me off. "Everyone not signed up for the second heat of the day, please do so now. Round one of heat two will commence in ten minutes."

"That's you, Tobias," I said. I gestured to the large scoreboard, making sure he saw that I was still in the hunt for the top prize. "I mean, Toby Hawke," I laughed.

Tobias just shook his head, like I was being stupid. "Rachel and Cassie filled us in. We've got work to do, man. I guess I'll just have to forfeit."

Rachel looked uncomfortable. "We're just getting Ax into position to do his thing with the computer is all. It's tame, as far as missions go. You could definitely play."

Tobias looked at her like she was crazy. "We're _just_ going to kidnap someone, hold them hostage, and let Ax try to fool a bunch of controllers? And you want me to go play some stupid tournament while you guys do it?"

Rachel stared. "Fine. I just thought maybe you'd like to have some fun. Whatever."

Tobias seemed to realize that Rachel was just looking out for him, and he let her off the hook with a goofy smile. "I appreciate it, but this _is_ my fun."

"Rachel can certainly understand that," I said. "She ranks a good fight above a birthday party at Disneyworld on the fun scale."

"Maybe, but we're not looking for a fight," Cassie reminded us. "As a matter of fact, we are avoiding a fight at any cost."

Ax said, "I am confused. We will disable one of the technical staff, and I will acquire him. I will then use the morph to reconfigure the structure of the existing data processor. Sessor. This seems fairly straightforward. Are we going to proceed without Prince Jake?" He then added, "Processor. Proceed. Sessorseed."

"Yeah, we are," Rachel said. "We need to learn to do things without Jake."

It seemed unnatural for Jake to not be present, and this was probably a bad thing. We didn't want to be one-dimensional. We needed to be able to adapt. "For once, I agree with Rachel. Let's do it," I said.

Rachel laughed. "That's my line."

"Okay, so what's the plan?" Cassie asked. "Keep in mind, we don't know that our victim – I mean, target – is even a controller. We can't hurt him."

"Lure him into a bathroom, then give him a grizzly love-tap?" Rachel speculated.

I thought of a little kiosk I knew of out in a different area of the mall. "Anybody got any money?" I asked. "I got ten bucks on me, and I need about fifteen more."

"For what?" Tobias asked suspiciously.

"We need to minimize morphing on this one," I told him. "As in, we don't want a potential controller going back to his boss saying, 'I got tricked into the bathroom by one of the contestants, and then a grizzly bear punched me out.' That's too obvious."

Rachel offered me her credit card. "I'm touched. I didn't even tell you what I need the money for, yet. You trust me! You really trust me!" I gushed. Rachel rolled her eyes, but left the card extended. I got serious.

"I appreciate it, but I need cash. We can't leave a paper trail. Like, using a credit card at the weapons kiosk in the same place we're going to use that weapon. The Yeerks are too smart for that."

"Weapons kiosk?" Cassie repeated. "I don't even want to know."

I grinned. "Not talking about a samurai sword. They sell tasers."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

I taped the 'out of order' sign I'd made on the outside of the bathroom door and slipped in. We needed privacy for this. The plan was fairly simple – Tobias was going to snag one of the tech guys and tell him he'd overheard some guys in the bathroom talking about hacking the competition. Guys with laptops. When the tech guy walked in to check it out, I'd pop out from behind the door and taser him. Then Ax, already demorphed in one of the stalls, would acquire him and go to work while me and Tobias kept the poor guy incapacitated in the bathroom.

(Get ready,) Ax told me. (Tobias and the other human will be here very soon.) I almost asked him how he knew, then I remembered Tobias had thought speech, just like any other morph.

I made sure the stun gun was on and charged. This was so weird – I'd assaulted lots of people before, but always in a morph. I'd never even been in a fight as a human. I wished for the gorilla's bulk and fearless attitude, but I had to make do with my own body.

The door creaked open, and Tobias walked in first. I pulled the taser back just in time – I'd almost hit Tobias with it. "Yeah, they're set up in the last stall," he was saying. "They have all kinds of computer gear."

The door shut behind the second person to enter, and I pressed the stun gun to the back of his neck. He let out a stuttering, "Ah-AH-AH-AH!" and fell, face-first. His head bounced off the tile, and I winced.

I wanted to check on the poor guy, but there would be time for that later. "Ax, he's out," I said. Ax stepped out of the stall without hesitation, reached down to acquire the unconscious man, and began morphing. In less than two minutes, the guy (still breathing, still unconscious) was stuffed in the stall and Ax was standing there in his clothes.

The door opened a crack. "We've already turned away two people wanting to use the bathroom. Are you guys almost done?" Rachel asked. I looked at Ax, who nodded.

"I will need a maximum of five of your minutes at the terminal," Ax said. "After that, I will immediately leave this complex to find a safe zone to demorph. Please keep this human detained for ten minutes, in order to ensure mission security." He left the bathroom, and I was alone with our victim.

Tobias would be leaving the mall right now. He couldn't afford to be recognized as the guy who led the tech worker into an ambush. Ax would stay at the mall only long enough to rig the system. Rachel and Cassie would have eyes on him the whole way. My job was simple, in theory – make sure the guy didn't wake up before Ax was done, and then bail.

That saying about time standing still when you watch the clock? Totally true. After ten minutes that seemed like an hour, I wiped the fingerprints off of the stun gun, dropped it, and left. Everyone was gone by the time I made it back to the gaming area, which was according to plan. I waited around for Jake, who got back about twenty minutes later, and we left the mall. Not bad, for a mission without a leader. Not bad at all.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"Ax had a problem," Rachel said. She was huffy. "It seems like _simple human technology_ gave him some trouble." Rachel, for some reason, took offense on behalf of the entire human race whenever Ax acted like we were mentally- challenged cousins of the Andalites.

Since Cassie's parents were both away for the weekend at a veterinary seminar, Ax was in his own Andalite form inside the barn. The assorted animals there for treatment kept a wary eye on him – they didn't know what he was, but they knew they didn't want to mess with him. (Please, be serious. Human technology would not have posed a problem. The tournament data is wrapped in human code, but it is just the outer layer. Underneath it are hundreds of redundant Yeerk protocols. Given ample time, I could hack it and make the necessary changes. Our plan did not afford us enough time, though. I made a decision and left it alone, rather than make a sloppy attempt in the time we had.)

We were all present, and everyone was feeling a little disgruntled that we had taken all that risk for nothing. To his credit, Jake didn't seem interested in placing blame or acting like we didn't pull it off because he hadn't been there. He looked at Ax, his expression smooth. "So what you're saying is that they were ready for us. They expected us to try computer sabotage. Is the level of security you ran into typical of the Yeerks?" he asked.

(No, Prince Jake. The security was the equivalent of the weapons systems on a Pool ship – their best. As I have said before, Yeerk technology is really just deconstructed Andalite technology. Their "security" relies upon redundancy instead of innovation. It is designed to take a long time to hack, but any first-year _aristh_ could do it.)

"So, what are you saying? Unless we can get you a few hours on the system, we're out of luck?" I asked, trying to cut through all the techno mumbo-jumbo Ax was so fond of spouting. Sometimes I think he did it just to show off.

Ax paused, then looked as embarrassed as a creature could look without a mouth. (I am sorry if I have misled you. I _could_ hack the layers of security, but it would take more than a few Earth hours.)

"How long?" Cassie.

Ax hesitated again. (Conservatively? Two weeks. Without sleep cycles.)

I threw up my hands. "Well, we're screwed. The tournament is going to be over by this time tomorrow. Unless you have an Andalite time machine up your butt."

Ax stared at me blankly with his main eyes. (The only known time-altering device is the Time Matrix, and it is too large to fit in most known species' butts.) Once again, I had the sneaking suspicion that at least one Andalite had a sense of humor, however dry.

Jake cupped his hand over his face, the way he did when the conversation was getting away from him. "Okay, so the subtle approach isn't going to work. What now?"

"_Now _can we trash that tournament?" Rachel asked, sounding way too happy about it. "Those dorks are asking for it, anyway. If I hear one more 'Hey, baby,' through a retainer, I'm going to stomp it, with or without you."

(Tom. Chapman. Leaders in the Sharing. They're all going to be there tomorrow, when they announce the winners. I don't know if we want to mix it up with that many Controllers around,) Tobias said from his perch up in the rafters.

Jake had a pained expression on his face. "We might just have to let the Yeerks get away with this one," he said unhappily. At Rachel's incredulous expression, he shrugged defensively. "Marco said it best – if we all-out assault this thing, they're just going to move it. It would be dangerous, people could get hurt, and ultimately, we wouldn't stop them. We're not going to just start hitting the Yeerks without a reason, or a good chance at success."

"Maybe we're focusing on the wrong part of this whole Yeerk operation," I said, an idea half-formed in my mind. "So we leave the tournament alone and let them do what they set out to do – find the top three gamers in the area. What if we could somehow keep them from infesting them?"

Cassie picked it up quickly. "They'd already have their winners declared at that point. No legitimate reason to hold the tournament again."

"And if something interrupted their plan to infest those winners – like, a herd of zoo escapees – they'd be out of luck," Rachel finished. "Nice."

"Well, not completely out of luck," I corrected. "The Yeerks will know exactly who they want. Just because we stop them once doesn't mean they won't keep trying, and we can't babysit three game nerds 24/7. But if we make it a big enough story, draw enough attention to these kids, the Yeerks may decide it's just not worth the publicity."

Jake grinned. "You're not as dumb as you look. You're saying we use the Yeerks' need for secrecy against them. Cause a big enough scene at the studio where they plan to snatch the winners, and they may decide to just leave it alone."

I nodded. "Yeah. It may work, it may not. At this point, though, I think using the Rachel Method is our best option."

"My _homeboy_," Rachel said enthusiastically, grinning like a maniac and putting it up for a high-five. "I knew you'd come around."

Jake couldn't help but smile. "All right. Tomorrow we need eyes on the tournament, so we're not going into it blind. Ax, Tobias, and Marco, you guys are out because of your parts in the attempted sabotage earlier. I'm out, because of Tom. That leaves the girls."

"No," I told him. "I'm playing. There is nothing you can do to keep me away from the mall tomorrow. Besides, the guy didn't see me, anyway."

Jake stood up. "It's too risky, man. I know you want to go, but -"

I put my hand up. "Just stop it. You're not going to talk me out of it."

(Why are you insistent on participating?) Ax asked, and he sounded truly confused. (There is no point. You cannot win the competition. We would have exposure if you did, and it would be _you _we were rescuing from the Yeerks.)

"I'm not going to win. I'm going to finish higher than…somebody," I finished lamely.

(Marco, this is a little bit more important than some rivalry you might have created with one of the guys there,) Tobias said sharply. (I mean, I know you're competitive, man…but be smart about it.)

I looked to see if Jake was going to rat me out. His expression was unreadable. He thought about it for a minute, and then gave a defeated sigh. "You guys don't get it. There's no way we can keep him away. A girl agreed to go out with him if he could beat her."

So he _was_ a rat. I gave him a dirty look as Rachel and Cassie laughed. "It's not just some girl," I said defensively. "She's a nine and a half, easy…not to mention extremely cool. And speaking of security, Jake, wouldn't it be more suspicious of me to drop out for no reason after a magnificent performance today?"

Jake, who'd been laughing along with the girls, got serious and thoughtful. "Yeah, I guess you're right," he admitted. "But you're going to have to be smart, like Tobias said. If, somehow, you start to get too deep in the tournament, you're going to have to take a dive. Just because the Yeerks only want the top three doesn't mean they're not going to look at other top gamers as backups."

"I will finish only as high as necessary to get my girl," I promised.

Rachel let out another peal of laughter, but it was more sympathetic than mocking. "Marco, even if you can beat this girl _and_ get her to like you – both big ifs, by the way – do you honestly think you have time for a girlfriend?"

I refused to let her get to me. "The only way to find out is to get one. What happens afterwards isn't really important."

"And that's why you're a guy," Cassie said, giggling.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Me and Jake were walking back to his house, to at least make an appearance at his dad's basketball party. I was going through a mental checklist of things to do, and at the top of it was calling my own dad when we got to Jake's. My dad was cool, as far as dads went. He didn't mind me being independent, and trusted me to stay out of trouble without being up my butt all the time. I felt a pang of guilt as I thought about that. '_No, dad, it's not gangs or drugs that keeps me out all hours of the day and night. Just a little alien invasion I got drafted to fight against. No biggie,_'I thought of the way _that_ talk might go, and couldn't help but laugh a little.

Jake seemed like he was thinking about something pretty hard. I figured he was doing his leader-of-the-resistance thing, planning our next mission. So he surprised me when he said, "So. You really like this girl, huh? Jessie?"

Off-guard, I replied, "Well, yeah, I guess. I mean, I talked to her for all of five seconds. But she seems cool, and she's definitely hot – pretty much what I'm looking for in a woman."

Jake still looked deep in thought. "That's good, man. Normal. I worry about that for you sometimes. You know, not having that part of a normal life? Dating and all."

"What about you?" I shot back. I don't like people pitying me, for any reason. "You think you've got a normal dating situation going on? Your girlfriend can turn into a wolf."

He nodded, and I catalogued the fact that he had finally admitted Cassie was his girlfriend. "You know what I mean, though. I mean, it might not be normal, but it's _something_. You know I had a crush on Cassie back when 'Yeerk' was just another nonsense word to us. Their situation is even weirder, but Rachel and Tobias have each other, in a way. I just want you to know that I think about you, man. If you can find a girl that can stand you, I want you to be able to enjoy some sort of a relationship."

I forced a laugh. "Stop it. I feel like _you're_ about to ask me on a date." I was touched, though. I mean, Jake and I were best friends, but we were also guys. Before the Yeerks got here, we didn't do heart-to-hearts. It was nice to have my sacrifices acknowledged, though. "I'm not stupid, though, Jake. I know I can't have a normal, high school sweetheart. It's not like I can share my secrets with some girl. 'I'd love to have dinner with your folks, hon, but I've got to turn into a gorilla and fight seven-foot salad shooters from hell.'" I laughed at the ridiculousness of it. "But going on _a_ date? Enjoying the company of a pretty girl for a couple hours before our next life-or-death mission? I can do that. That's all I'm really shooting for here, the best I can hope for."

Jake laughed too, but there was a sadness way beyond his years underneath it. "That's good. It's good to have perspective. And just know that, while maybe none of us Animorphs want to jump your bones, we all love you. In a way."

I grinned. "Even Rachel?"

"Even Rachel. When you're not annoying her to the point of wanting to kill you, anyway."

We hit his driveway, and it was understood that this uncharacteristically mushy conversation was over. I guess he wanted to clarify his point, so he said, "Anyway. We need each other if we're going to stay sane. I mean, kids are not supposed to have to deal with all this stuff. Just know that if you ever need to talk, I'm here for you. I may not have any answers, but I can listen."

"Yeah, yeah," I said. "You can just open up shop as a therapist for kids fighting for a secret resistance. Dr. Jake, PhD."

As soon as Jake opened the front door of his house, a chorus of obnoxiously loud groans reached us from the living room. "Guess the game's started. Normal time," he said with a grin.

"Normal time. Does that mean I should get caught trying to sneak a couple beers out of the fridge?" I asked innocently, and he punched me in the arm. He wandered into the living room as I picked up the hall phone to call my dad.

After four rings, the answering machine picked up. "Hey dad, I'm at Jake's. We're watching the game with his dad and his friends, so I'll probably sleep over here again. Of course I owned at the video game competition today, so I'll be back at the mall tomorrow to beat some more wholesale butt. Should be home tomorrow afternoon." I went to hang up, but I guess my talk with Jake had me feeling a little soft, so I added, "Love you, dad. You big, smelly oaf. Later."

As I turned to make my way into the living room, I spotted Tom lurking in the kitchen. He was trying to be inconspicuous, which led me to believe he'd been spying on my phone call. I felt violated and angry all at once – my enemy was ten feet away, and there was nothing I could do about it. "What's up, Tom?" I asked innocently, to let him know I'd caught him snooping.

He stopped pretending to look for something in the fridge and studied me. "Not much. I just got done dealing with major drama at the competition," he said. I knew he was baiting me, gauging my reaction, so I bit.

"Drama? Don't tell me I was disqualified for being _too _awesome." I said, making it sound as nonchalantly cocky as I could.

He played his part and laughed. "Don't get too overconfident. There's a few guys still in it that have major skills. No, we caught someone trying to cheat," he clarified. "Someone attacked one of the tech guys in a bathroom and tried to hack the tournament. You didn't hear anything about it, did you?" he asked with just a tiny bit of suspicion in his voice.

I knew I had to play this just right. No slip showing nervousness could be allowed. "No way. I'd have let you know right away. If, by some miracle, I lose, I don't want it to be because someone cheated."

I didn't like the way Tom's eyes stayed narrowed, as if he didn't believe me. '_He has absolutely no reason to suspect you,_' I told myself. Tom waited a minute, still watching me for any sign of deception, then said, "All right. It's just the guy who got attacked said he vaguely remembered a short guy hitting him with a stun gun. A short guy with long hair. And the guy who sells tasers in the mall said he remembered selling one to a kid who looked a lot like you around the time it happened."

My natural instincts kicked it, overriding the fear. "Are you accusing _me _of trying to cheat? Maybe we should get your parents before we talk about this anymore. I mean, if I'm being accused of masterminding some crazy cheating scheme, not to mention flat-out assault, then we need to get serious and bring in the adults. I've got nothing to hide."

I guess my indignation and the fact I was willing to bring Jake's parents into it sold him on my innocence. "No, man, it's cool. I'm not accusing you, just telling you what I heard. _I _don't think you're some computer-hacking, black hat genius. I'm just doing my part to make sure the tournament is fair for everybody."

I gazed back coldly. "Well, good. Like I said, I'd hate to be cheated out of winning the thing fair and square. If you're not sure about me, I'm totally cool with bringing your parents into it. Heck, call the police. I've got people that can tell you where I was every second of today."

He finally relaxed, and I knew I'd won. This round, at least. He gave me an uncertain smile of truce. "I believe you. Just let me know if you hear anything, okay?"

"No problem," I said. Tom went to join the others in the living room, and I all but collapsed into a chair. That had been close. _Really_ close. At least I knew that even if he really wasn't going to drop it, anyone he might talk to about my alibi would back up my innocence.

That wasn't what I was worried about at that moment, though. I was thinking bigger picture. '_Someday, one of us is going to slip up, and Tom's going to catch it. And that's going to be game over. This Yeerk is way too close to us._'

I hated the way my brain was thinking, but I couldn't deny the logic. '_Before that happens, before we let Tom catch us, we're going to have to do something. One day, sooner than later, we're going to have to get rid of that Yeerk. And that might mean getting rid of Tom._'


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

I was depressed.

There was no getting around it. I sat at a table with my nachos from Taco Bell, watching the tail-end of the tournament. Jessie was in the final eight. I would have been there, too, if I wouldn't have had to throw the competition for the sake of the mission. I had gotten to the point where I really thought I had a shot at winning the whole thing, and that's when I knew it was time to give up.

What sucked the most about it wasn't just that I had lost on purpose, so I'd never know how far I would have gone. What _really_ sucked is that I'd lost my bet with Jessie. I wouldn't be getting that date, after all. I guess I hadn't admitted to myself how bad I'd wanted it until now.

Not to mention, she _was_ good. I had to give her that. Even if I hadn't taken a dive, I sincerely doubted I'd have been able to beat her, straight up. This was bad for me, but even worse for her. See, if she kept it up and finished in the top three, the Yeerks would be looking to make her a controller. Just one more thing those slugs will have taken away from me.

I looked up, startled, as someone plopped down at my table. Oh. Rachel. She was there to keep an eye on me, I guess, since the others were too conspicuous for this recon mission. Well, all except for Cassie, of course. I looked around and didn't see her.

"What happened? Did all that shopping finally kill Cassie?" I asked without humor. I just wasn't in the mood for joking.

Rachel snagged one of my nachos and shook her head. "Nope. Had to work at the Center," she said with her mouth full. She swallowed and continued, "The 'rents got back a little early, because Highway Patrol called. They had an injured black bear near a park they needed caught and treated. What's up?"

I put my head down on the table. I really didn't want to talk about it, so I dodged her question. "You didn't have to come here to watch me. You know I always do what's right for the mission."

She didn't say anything right away, so I picked my head up off the table to look at her. She was looking at me with open surprise. "I know that," she finally said. "I didn't come here to make sure you did the right thing. I came to cheer you up. I figured you'd be bummed over not being able to win, so I got you something." She handed me one of her bags.

I didn't know what surprised me more – the fact that Rachel had thought I really could have won, had I been trying my hardest, or the fact she was trying to cheer me up. Rachel wasn't really a touchy-huggy-I-feel-your-pain kind of chick. I opened the bag and pulled out a hoodie. Across the front, it read, "Your Girlfriend's Next Boyfriend." I laughed before I could stop myself, then got suspicious. "You been talking to Jake?" I asked, wondering if he'd spilled the beans about our 'girlfriend' conversation yesterday.

If she was lying, she did it well. "Not since the barn yesterday. Why? And if you don't like it, you can go pick out another one. Reciept's in the bag."

I felt closer to Rachel than usual, and I tried to suppress a blush. It was hard not to be cheered up, especially because it was in Rachel's DNA to not worry about other people's feelings. Not that she was mean or anything…it's just, like I said, Rachel's not a real feelings-oriented kind of girl.

I grinned at her and popped the tags off the sweater, putting it on right at the food court table. "No way would I take this back. You know me too well – this is something I'd have gotten myself. Thanks, Rach."

Now it was her turn to try to act like she wasn't embarrassed. "Don't mention it. I saw that obnoxious thing, and I thought to myself, 'That's got Marco written all over it.'" She scanned the dwindling crowd of gamers and asked, "So, give me the rundown. What are we dealing with?"

"Only four people left. Jessie's one of them," I said morosely, gesturing to my almost-girl. "Hopefully she loses – even if we're not star-crossed lovers, I definitely don't want her to get Yeerk'd. Aside from her, three guys left. All of them early twenties, all of them working for major video game companies."

Rachel looked thoughtful. "The slugs are definitely going to be more interested in the guys than her. She's, what, fifteen? The twenty-somethings are bound to have a ton more freedom than she does. Unless she'd head and shoulders above them, they'll probably skip her, anyway."

I shook my head. I didn't know if this was another effort to cheer me up, or that was really her logic – either way, she was wrong. "As much as they might _want_ to do that, they can't. They already announced the prize. If she places third or better, she's definitely going on the studio tour. And if we're right, and that's where they're going to grab them, she's definitely going to be targeted for infestation."

Rachel hesitated like she was looking for a way around my logic, then nodded. "I guess you're right. They're locked in, now. Well, hey, it doesn't matter anyway. We're going to stop them, regardless of _who_ they want." She stood up, grabbing her bags, and said, "I'm going to get out of here. Sunday dinner with mom – missing it would be a mortal sin. Why don't you come, too? We got what we came for."

I thought about it. "No, thanks. I think I'll wallow in my grief a little more," I tried to joke, but it came out sounding too serious. "Kidding," I clarified. "I guess I just want to see it play out, now that it's almost over. Don't worry, I won't do anything dumb."

She gave me a reassuring smile. "I know. And lighten up. You're alive and free – it's a good day." She walked away, and I turned my attention back to the tournament.

Ten minutes later, it was all over. Jessie finished a close second, and I could tell even from a distance that she was disappointed. More than that – totally crestfallen. I mean, second place was nothing to sneer at - $2,500 and a tour of Activision. What she _didn't _know was that, unless we Animorphs were able to stop the Yeerks, she wouldn't care about money in a week. I got depressed all over again. I stuck a cold nacho in my mouth and chewed just to have something to do, and grimaced. I put my head down on the table again, moaning out loud at the unfairness that was my life.

"It can't be that bad," A voice said, obviously amused. I looked up to see Jessie standing over me. "I saw that blond you were with. She was smokin'. So what's your deal?"

I waved dismissively in the direction Rachel had exited. "She's just a friend. Really more of an acquaintance. So," I said, trying to sound cheerful. "Congrats, right? I mean, second place – that's a big deal."

She shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. I don't really care. I'm just stoked I get to see Activision…that was the whole reason I entered this thing. I want to be a programmer," she clarified. I figured she'd just been being nice to me, and would quickly leave to celebrate, but she sat down at the table. "So, you still up for that date?" she asked.

I did my best to keep my jaw from dropping. "You serious? I thought you only dated winners," I said, trying to sound like I didn't care one way or the other.

She smiled, and it moved me. It was a pretty smile, but the way her eyes crinkled up, like she was really happy, made it _beautiful_. "Aw, don't do that. Anybody can have a bad day. I saw you play yesterday – you got game."

Now I was completely out of my funk. This girl just did something for me. "That's really cool of you to say," I told her. "So, you seriously want to get some food or something? With me?" I clarified, sounding a little nerdy but not caring.

She nodded. "Yeah. For sure. As long as you take off that sweatshirt," she laughed.


	14. Chapter 14

Author's Note – What's up? Hope everyone's enjoying this story…kinda hard to tell without reviews, but the traffic says people are reading, so I guess I'll keep writing. They say great writers are never appreciated in their own time, anyway (kidding, kidding.) I really enjoy writing the Anis like this…always felt like we didn't get to see enough of their personal lives, outside of their exclusive circle, so it's an opportunity for me to take artistic license to the max and give them those personal lives myself. Anyway, I'd love feedback so I can keep getting better, but you already know that. Whether you decide to do right by me or not, enjoy!

Chapter 14

Jessie and I were sitting in the very same restaurant Jake had eaten with Tom at yesterday. She was telling me story after story as we waited for our food to arrive, and I was just enjoying listening to her talk. "..So, of course, I agreed. What was I supposed to do?" I nodded my agreement, even though I wasn't exactly sure what she was talking about. Didn't matter – I was fascinated by her, and I could listen to her go on about anything. I loved how comfortable she seemed to be with me, even though we'd only known each other a very short amount of time.

That, and the fact that I had convinced myself she wasn't a controller. Now, hear me out – it wasn't just that I didn't _want_ her to be. Controllers would have had no reason to enter the tournament – it's not like the Yeerks were looking for bodies they already controlled. Add that to the fact that a Yeerk wouldn't have searched me out to go out with _after_ I'd lost our bet, and I was about ninety-nine percent sure I was looking at an all-human hottie.

She broke me out of my trance when she said, "Man! I've been talking about myself this whole time; I'm sorry, Marco. I don't normally do this. So, what's up with _you_? What do you get up to when you're not gaming or scamming on girls?" she said the last part with an easy smile, so I'd know she was joking.

My mind floundered. It wasn't often I was rendered speechless. As a matter of fact, this might have been a first. I just wasn't ready for the question – I was off-guard, unarmed by her looks and personality. I racked my brain for an answer, but it seemed like I couldn't think of anything to tell her. I mean, my life is plenty busy, but not with things I could talk about. "Um...well...I go to school," I said lamely. She was looking at me with confused amusement. I caught a short few seconds to think as the waiter arrived and set our food on the table. When he left, I said, "I'm really not very interesting. I don't really like talking about myself – I'd rather hear more about you."

Now she was giving me a peculiar look. She took a bite of her dinner thoughtfully and said, "I wouldn't have thought that about you. Not after the way you came off at the mall. I'm thinking there's more to you than I thought."

I forced a laugh. "Yeah, I'm a veritable onion. Layers for days," I said, and to my relief, she laughed too. I grew a little emboldened, and decided to embellish a little. "If you really want to know what I get up to in my free time, I'll tell you. I don't want to sound like a nerd, but I help animals. I stand up for species that can't stand up for themselves." It was true, after all. Humans are animals.

She gazed at me with what might have been…respect? Admiration? Whatever it was, I wasn't used to it. "Really? You mean, like, conservation? Endangered species work?" she asked, intrigued.

I smiled, relieved. "Absolutely. That is _exactly _what I do. It's hard work, sometimes dangerous, but I'm thinking that it'll be worth it someday."

She took a minute to eat another couple bites, and I followed her lead. She looked at me for a short moment without saying anything, and she looked impressed. "Tell me about it," she said softly.

Luckily, I was able to be vague, but also specific enough at some points that she thought I was actually talking about animals. That was one advantage of always being around Cassie and the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center – you can't _help _but to learn a little something. Not to mention I'd turned into more animals than most city kids had ever seen.

I finished talking at about the time the waiter brought the check. I managed to look a little embarrassed. "Look at that. Told you I didn't like to talk about myself, and you got me to do it the whole time."

She laughed. "No way. I'm glad you did. You do really important work for someone our age. Maybe I should be a little more like you, instead of spending all my time in front of an Xbox." Involuntarily, I had an image of her, battle-morphed and fighting by my side. And the weird thing was, it didn't _seem _weird. It seemed logical and right. I shook the thought out of my head and smiled back at her.

She leaned back, looking pleased. If she really _had _enjoyed the date as much as I had, I'd say it was a pretty good day for her, with winning the tournament and all. I picked the check up off of the table, reaching for the emergency debit card my dad had given to me. I would definitely be willing to explain to my dad how dinner for two at Sombrero Amigo had been an emergency.

To my surprise, she snatched it out of my hand. "My treat, Marco." I started to argue – I'd never been on an official date before, but I knew the guy was supposed to pay. She stalled my argument by saying, "I just won $2,500 today. How much did you win?" I just looked at her blankly, and she smiled. "Not trying to rub your face in it, but I'm paying. I had a really good time, Marco." I mentally shrugged, and she paid the bill.

Out front of the restaurant, at the bus stop, we kind of awkwardly stood around. "Are you taking the bus?" she asked hopefully. I shook my head no – busses were unnecessary for me. She took a second to look a little disappointed as the noisy Transit Authority bus pulled up, but then flashed me that gorgeous smile, the one she did with her mouth _and _eyes. Before I had a chance to think about it, she kissed me and slipped something into my hand. "Call me," she said, then disappeared onto the bus without a look back. The bus pulled away from the curb, and I wandered away from the stop, stunned.

I'd just had my first date. With a beautiful girl. And it went well…so well, she'd kissed me and handed me – what? I looked down. Her phone number? I stumbled into the walled-in dumpster area, absently taking off my outer layer of clothes. My brain felt like it was carbonated, champagne bubbles popping in my skull. Was this what it felt like to be in…love? Maybe. I tried to morph, but I couldn't concentrate. I closed my eyes and bore down on the image of the osprey I was trying to change into, and slowly, the changes began to emerge. It was, by far, the hardest morph I'd ever done. See, it's almost impossible to morph when you're distracted…and I was definitely distracted. Big time.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

When I got home, my dad was waiting for me in the kitchen. He'd made dinner. Well, he'd heated up some TV dinners, anyway. He seemed a little disappointed that I'd already eaten, but he cheered up as I started describing my date to him. I guess my enthusiasm was contagious, and I was really excited to tell my dad about it. Heck, I was just excited I was able to tell him _something_ about my life. It was a nice change from lying all the time.

"So, right before she got on the bus, she kissed me." I pulled the handwritten note with her number on it out of my pocket and held it up proudly in front of his face, like evidence. "She said to call her." I kind of mentally stumbled as I told him this – _when _was I supposed to call her? Tonight? Was there a waiting period? I asked my dad what he thought about it.

My dad tried not to show it, but I could tell he was stumped, too. '_It _has _been a while since he's been in the dating game,_' I reminded myself, but I was still a little aggravated. If I'd ever needed "Dad" advice, it was now. He scratched his head. "Um, I'm not sure. I mean, you don't want to call her tonight – you don't want to seem too eager." He paused. "Unless you want her to know you're really into her, in which case I guess you _would _call her tonight." He thought again. "But she might think that's too clingy, in which case you _don't _want to call her tonight."

I glared Dracon beams at my dad. "Thanks for nothing. You should start your own dating column – 'Call Her, But Don't Call Her.'" He grinned and shrugged, digging into his microwave dinner. I went up the stairs, taking them two at a time, and shut myself in my room. '_Think, Marco. You've taken on Hork-bajir and Visser Three. How hard can this be?_' I asked myself. Despite the self-pep talk, I still couldn't think of what to do. I thought of any girls I knew to ask for advice, and came up with only two.

'_Cassie would be even more clueless than me when it comes to this kind of stuff. If Jake asked her on a date, she'd show up wearing big rubber boots with bird crap in her hair. That leaves Rachel,_' I thought.

I was a little reluctant to call her, though, despite our earlier good-vibes hang-out. Don't get me wrong, Rachel can be cool and decent. She can also flip the switch in an instant. Every time I let her in, she was gaining more ammo for our next argument. '_Well, what do you care more about? Jessie, or fighting with Rachel?_' The answer was easy. I picked up the phone and called her.

Rachel answered on the second ring. "So, how'd the date go?" she asked nonchalantly. It took me a second to realize that Rachel had left _before _Jessie had approached me to go out.

"You were _spying _on me?" I raged.

"What? No!" she yelled back. "No way! Like I don't have better things to do than spy on a turd like you!"

I didn't even register the insult. "Okay. So how did you know me and Jessie went out?" I demanded.

I could hear the grin in her voice. "Oh, Marco. You have so much to learn. _Of course _you guys went on a date – that was the whole point."

I was very close to losing it. "The whole point of _what?_" I said through gritted teeth. I could tell she was enjoying dragging this out, torturing me.

"The whole point of me visiting you today in the food court. I knew if she saw me with you, she'd wonder what was so great about you. Logically, that's going to lead to the two of you going on a date." I was too stunned to reply. "You're welcome," she said.

My head was spinning. Was it possible? "Thanks?" I said belatedly, more of a question than an actual thank you. She laughed.

"Look, all I did was get your foot in the door. If you had a good time, if she likes you, that's all you. Speaking of, _did _you guys hit it off?"

I shook my head, trying to clear it. I was still reeling over the fact that Rachel had set this up and then called a play-by-play. "Yeah, we did. That's why I'm calling. She gave me her number, but I don't know when I'm supposed to call her."

Rachel seemed to consider. "You like her?" she asked, and I answered in the affirmative. "Does she seem laid back, or high-strung? Kiss, or no kiss?" After she'd asked me about fifteen questions, she seemed to be doing some sort of dating math. "Okay, call her tonight. Definitely. But keep it short – just tell her you had a good time. _Do not _thank her – that makes it seem like she did you a favor. Just that you had a good time – that's it. Then leave her your number, and wait for her to call you. Got it?"

"Got it," I replied. "But how do you _know _all this?" I demanded. Was Rachel finding time for dating outside being an Animorph? And what about Tobias?

She snickered. "MTV. Loveline reruns. You know, with Dr. Drew?"

"No way. I watch that show too, and I don't know all this," I accused.

She laughed again. "That's because you're too busy ripping off Adam Carolla's jokes to pay attention to what they're talking about." I started to argue, then I shrugged. It was probably true.

"Anyway. Thanks again, Rachel," I said.

"Yep," she said easily. "Anytime." She hung up, and I dialed the number Jessie'd given me. I followed Rachel's advice and kept it short, gave her my number, and then sat by the phone for the rest of the night, hoping she'd call back. The whole time I kept telling myself there was something wrong with me, but I couldn't help it. That girl had me spun, bad. But I liked it.


	16. Chapter 16

A/N - …6 new chapters. 75 signed-in visitors. 123 hits. 0 reviews. Is it just me, or is this story unpopular? Does it suck? Because I won't waste my time if it does. If I stop updating, PM me to see what's up…I may have given it up as a lost cause, or I may just have decided that I'm not going to post the rest and I'll have to mail it to you. It's getting incredibly hard to find the motivation to continue this…probably because there _is _no motivation. Whatever…I guess if y'all don't care, neither do I.

Chapter 16

School on Monday was awful.

Okay, Mondays were _always _crappy. But I got maybe an hour of sleep the night before. When I lay down for the night, I couldn't turn my brain off. My happiness at finding Jessie started becoming tainted by the knowledge the Yeerks were going to try to infest her. Upcoming suicide missions always stressed me out, but this was different. I _cared _about this girl. This one was personal. I didn't have much in my life that I could point to and say, '_Hey, at least I have _._' I thought that Jessie might just be that for me, and the Yeerks were going to try to take it away from me.

In between first and second period, I wandered down the hall like a zombie. I was past the jumpy stage of exhaustion – I was on autopilot. I was already dreaming as I walked, and they weren't good dreams. I vaguely felt someone bump me, hard, and belatedly I turned around to see who it was.

Great. It was Sinclair. Sinclair was this total creep in the grade above me. He got suspended at least once a month for bullying people. If he wasn't finding a reason for a fight, he was playing horrible pranks on people. Not funny pranks; the stuff he did was just plain nasty. Last year, he'd had to go to alternative school for kicking a ladder out from under some kid. The kid had hit his head when he fell and gone into convulsions, and Sinclair had stood there and laughed like it was the funniest thing in the world.

"What's your problem, queer?" he sneered in my face. I tried to walk away, I really did. He grabbed me by my shoulder and spun me around, but I guess that wasn't enough for him, because he snatched my backpack off of my shoulder and threw it on top of some lockers. "Now, say you're sorry, or I'm going to _make _you sorry."

Now, when I'm not fighting Yeerks, I'm a pretty non-violent guy. Truth be told, I've never come across a situation I couldn't talk my way out of. But suddenly, this rage flared up in my chest, and all at once I didn't _want _a non-violent solution. Without a word of warning, I smashed my fist into his nose.

Through the blood, I could see his expression of shock. He wasn't used to his victims fighting back. But just breaking his nose hadn't done anything for the rage I felt, so I pushed him. Hard. He flew backwards and landed on his back, and before I knew it, I was straddling him, beating his face in. I was yelling, but even _I _didn't know what I was saying.

Suddenly, I was pulled up off of him. I was spun around, and suddenly I was facing Jake. "Chill!" he yelled. I guess I still wasn't in control of myself, because I was trying to push Jake out of the way to get back at Sinclair. I hadn't made that decision, it was just instinct. But Jake has about six inches and thirty pounds on me – he wasn't budging.

Through the crowd of students pushed a figure that instantly cooled me off a couple of degrees – Chapman. He took one look at the situation, grabbed my arm in an iron grip, and hauled me off towards his office.

He didn't say a word as we walked – it seemed like he was too mad. I just went along with him, head down, hair in my face. I ignored the calls of 'Ooooooh!' and 'Busted!' from the other students. When we finally got to his office, he shoved me roughly through the door and slammed it behind him. "Sit!" he commanded, pointing to the chair across from his desk.

He went behind his desk, but he didn't sit down. He just stood there, hands on his hips, face red. I could almost see him mentally counting to ten, and his color went down. A full minute passed before he said anything. Finally, when he had cooled down enough, he sat.

"Marco. Explain yourself," he said, and even though his voice was shaking a little, I could tell he was trying to be calm.

I shrugged, and that seemed to start him up all over again. Before his face could change back to purple, I snapped, still angry. "You didn't have to be there. Use your imagination. Sinclair's…Sinclair. I had enough of it. Nothing else to say."

To my surprise, instead of making Chapman madder, this seemed to calm him down. "I understand, I really do. Do you think I don't see that…troublemaker on a weekly basis?" His inflection let me know that troublemaker was not his first choice for a word for Sinclair. It sounded like a rhetorical question, so I didn't answer. "I don't care what he did, you can't beat the hell out of him on school property. You just can't. Ethically, I should call the police," he said, as if this would have an effect. I was still too upset to care.

"Well, I wouldn't want you to break your Vice Principle Code of Ethics," I said. "At this point, I don't care. Call 'em. Maybe I _should _be locked up."

Again, my words seemed to have the opposite effect on Chapman than I'd expected. He peered at me, like he was seeing me for the first time, then the puzzle piece seemed to fall into place. "I knew this was bound to happen," he said gently. Surprise was now my most dominant emotion – all the hate seemed to have been bled out of me. "I'm surprised it took this long."

I swear to God, I thought he knew at that point. Knew I was an Animorph, and all the stress from that had caused me to snap. That shows you what a fragmented state of mind I was in – if he _had _known that, he wouldn't be sitting here calmly with me. He'd have me on the way to the Yeerk pool with a slug with my name on it waiting for me. He continued. "I know your mom's death was hard, Marco. And I know Sinclair is not the finest specimen of humanity. But, I repeat, you _cannot _go around beating people's brains in. You've been exceptionally good, up to this. All your teachers like you, even though they all say you don't apply yourself like you should. What happened? Why now?"

I sighed. I forced myself to pretend I was talking to an actual Vice Principal, and not some evil alien body-snatcher. "Like I said, it's not hard, Mr. Chapman. I had a really rough week, and Sinclair picked a fight. I took the bait. I take full responsibility, and I'm sorry. Not to him – I'll _never _apologize to him. He deserved it," I clarified. "I'm sorry to you, for putting you in this position. I'm sorry for my dad, who's going to be really upset."

Chapman, just full of surprises today, actually looked impressed. "You know, that's about the most honest answer I've ever gotten from a kid sitting in that chair." He thought for a short minute. "I'm inclined to cut you a break because of it. I can't do that, of course – there has to be _some _consequences, or by the end of the day this place is going to look like the WWF." Even given the circumstances, I couldn't hold back a smile at that image. I distinctly saw Rachel doing a flying suplex off of a desk onto Jessica, this girl she didn't like. "What do _you _think I should do about this?" he asked me.

I started. "You're asking _me _what should happen to me?" I asked. He shrugged and nodded. "Um, let me have the rest of the day off and give me academic immunity from final exams?"

Chapman laughed heartily. "So, you're back to normal. Good." He pondered the issue for a moment, and said, "Go home. You're suspended, of course…but just for today. Detention tomorrow."

I waited, and he didn't say anything else. "Detention tomorrow..and?" I prompted. He raised his eyebrow, and I finally understood – that was all he was going to do to me. I thanked him, and stood to leave.

As I went to open the door, he said, "And Marco? Take it easy on Jake. I know you're probably mad at him for stopping you before you were done with Sinclair, but that's a hell of a friend you've got there. A good kid. He was just looking out for you."

I turned and looked at him. I saw a stern, middle-aged man doing his best to be kindly to a kid he thought was just screwed up over losing his mom. I knew that behind all of that sat a Yeerk, my enemy. It was the weirdest sensation in the world, feeling gratitude toward the man and hatred toward the slug that controlled him. "I know, Mr. Chapman. Jake's…well, he's Jake." Chapman nodded as if he knew exactly what I meant. I left his office, the whole day ahead of me to think about things.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

I sat around on the couch, eating chips and watching TV. I'd slept for a couple of hours, but you know how it is when you've got a million different things going on at once. Sleep isn't much of an escape. That stuff will follow you in your dreams, where it intensifies and becomes even worse. So I was watching Jerry Springer and pointedly ignoring all the issues I should have been dealing with.

I know most kids in my shoes would have been freaking out about telling their parents about getting into a fight at school, but it honestly didn't bother me. My dad was spending about sixteen hours a day at work, anyway – ever since he'd gotten his old job as a computer programmer back, it was like he was trying to make up for lost time at work. Even if he didn't understand, he'd be too tired to put up much of a fight. But I was pretty sure he'd take my side. My dad knew I wasn't the kind of guy that went around picking fights.

There was a knock at the door, and I jumped. I checked the wall clock – '_3:30 already?_' I thought, slightly alarmed. I had spent the last four hours sitting on the couch, and couldn't remember anything I'd watched.

The knock didn't alarm me. I was expecting it. I knew at least Jake would be there to check on me – I _was _surprised when I opened the door and everyone filed in, even Ax. Ax saw the bag of chips on the sofa and lit up, diving for them like it was a loose ball in the Super Bowl.

After I'd shut the door, Rachel slugged me in the arm. "You went psycho on Sinclair, and didn't make sure I was around to see it? What's your problem? I would have paid ten bucks to watch that – Jake said it was _crazy_! Pow, right in the kisser!" She was grinning like an idiot, with absolutely no regard to the fact that it might still be a touchy subject for me. I started laughing – I couldn't help it. It was _so _Rachel.

Cassie looked disturbed. "We just wanted to come check on you, Marco. I know you're not really the 'fight in school' kind of kid. Is there anything you want to talk about?"

"Not really," I said, sitting back on the couch. "I mean, what's to talk about? Sinclair started up with me, and I kicked his ass. It's pretty simple." I wasn't trying to be short with her, but I really didn't want to get into why I had been so tired and vulnerable in the first place.

Ax nodded, like he completely understood. "Yes. Bullies must be handled with force, sometimes. Boo-lees."

Tobias shot him an amused look. "Andalites have school bullies?" he wondered.

Ax nodded again. "A male named Rampanor used to harass me in the schoolyard. I tried diplomacy, and it failed. So I put some tail into him, and the harassment stopped." He ignored the fact we were all looking at him in wonder, and crammed his face back into the bag of chips.

Jake shook his head as if to say, 'Now I've heard everything.' He looked at me, a slight smile still on his face from Ax's story. "So, you're cool now?" I nodded. "Good. What did Chapman do to you?"

I was still pretty proud of getting off light. "Suspended today, detention tomorrow."

Rachel stared. "You're joking. _Our _Chapman let you off that easy? Ryan didn't beat Taylor half as bad as I hear you tuned up Sinclair, and he got expelled!"

I shrugged. "He thinks it's because of my mom that I snapped. That, and the fact that he hates Sinclair more than I do."

"_Is _it because of your mom?" Cassie asked gently.

Even though it was Cassie, I couldn't help being a little sarcastic. "Must be. Can't be the fact that we're throwing ourselves at alien invaders twice a week, and I'm convinced that any day I'm going to be drug out of my bed by a Visser Three hit squad."

Jake gave me a warning look, and I subsided. "Well, whatever the reason, I hope it's out of your system," Jake said neutrally. "We really can't afford to be drawing attention from Chapman."

"At the risk of sounding like a jerk, no duh," I told him, then I sighed. "Look, guys…this was just a fluke. A one-time thing. I won't lose it again, I swear. It was just the perfect storm, if you know what I mean. I'll keep it under control. Happy?"

I could see that Jake was. All he'd needed to hear was that it wouldn't happen again. Rachel still looked disappointed she'd missed the fun. Cassie still looked upset, like she couldn't stand the idea of me fighting. Tobias and Ax…well, who knew what they were thinking? Tobias has gotten tough since deciding to live as a hawk – he probably approved of me defending myself. And apparently, I'd dealt with it the same way Andalites deal with _their _bullies. I smiled as I remembered something that Chapman had said.

"You might get a kick out of this, Jake. Apparently, Chapman has mad respect for you. He told me to take it easy on you for breaking up the fight, because you were a good guy," I said with a grin. "Teacher's pet, teacher's pet," I chanted.

Jake looked a little ruffled. "Well, crap. I guess I need to get in trouble to balance it out," he said, half-joking.

"What about all that stuff about staying off the radar?" Rachel asked. Jake grinned. He wasn't too full of himself to know when he was being a hypocrite. He gestured to everyone, and they all got up to leave.

"Anyway, man, we were just worried about you. You sure you're good?" he asked.

I shoved him toward the door. "I was great, until you guys pulled me away from Springer and Scorpion-boy ate all my Doritos. Go, get out of here," I said good-naturedly. I knew they would talk about me after they left, but it didn't bother me as bad as I thought it would. After all, it wasn't like they exactly pitied me. I wasn't the victim – I had turned the tables and beat the crap out of the guy who was trying to push me around. I realized that all I did at school was the same thing we did against the Yeerks all the time. As I closed the door and sat back on the couch, I realized that the war _had _affected us. Well, had affected _me, _at least. '_I guess Tobias isn't the only one who's toughened up since the Yeerks happened,_' I mused.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

(Roof access looks like a possibility,) Jake said. (It'll be a lot easier than waltzing in the front door.)

(Yeah. Although I'm still not sure why a video game production company has such jacked up security in their lobby in the first place,) Cassie said.

(Could be a couple reasons,) I speculated. (Corporate espionage, for one. These game companies are always trying to get a leg up on each other. Huge market, lots of competition. This could also be another one of the Yeerks' fronts – a way to make money under the table. Even Yeerks gotta make that green.)

Me, Jake, and Cassie were downtown, gliding high above the Activision studio building. It was after school on Friday, and I'd managed to make it through the week without another episode like the one on Monday. That wasn't to say I wasn't still stressed out – and that's putting it mildly. Every night, Jessie and I had been talking on the phone. She lived in the next town over, and we'd made plans to have another date while she was in town, visiting the studio. I'd forced myself to pretend that everything was going to be okay – it was easier that way. A little voice in my head kept nagging me, though. "_Why are you making plans with this girl, like there's a future there? Even if you somehow manage to keep her from being infested, it's not like you can have a normal relationship with her. Break it off now, cut your losses before you _really _get hurt._'

Jake shook me out of my introspection. (I sure hope they don't control the whole company,) he said morosely. (Activision is a multi-million dollar-a-year operation.)

(I'm sure an elephant wrecking their equipment will set them back a little,) Rachel said. Her 'voice' was faint, and I looked to the east. Sure enough, she was heading this way. I could make out Tobias and Ax, too. So they were here to relieve us. Jake had broken the surveillance teams into threes – less chance of being spotted. Not to mention, fresh eyes see clearly.

(All right, post up, guys,) Jake said to the approaching bird squadron. (Observe for about an hour, and let us know what you see. We'll meet up at Burger King in two hours, exactly.) Burger King was one of our new "safe" spots, if there was such a thing for us anymore. In addition to mapping Yeerk pool entrances, one of Tobias' new hobbies included trying to find us controller-free places to meet. Cassie's barn was good, but we couldn't go there all the time. We didn't want anyone, even her parents, suspecting that we were all hanging out there too much.

Anyway, Tobias had followed the various BK employees around until he was sure that none of them were visiting any of our known Yeerk pool entrances, and he gave it a 95% probability of being Yeerk-free. Plus, it had this little outdoor eating area where we could talk without being overheard.

Me, Jake, and Cassie went our separate ways until the meeting later. When I got home, I logged onto the internet, just to kill some time. I couldn't help but smile as I read Jessie's e-mail to me. It was sort of a sad smile, though. She was obviously extremely excited for her hard-earned trip to Activision. She had written me pages on all the details she wanted to see and all the things she hoped to learn. Even though it was years away, she was already focusing on her future career as a video game designer with unbridled enthusiasm. Once again, a deep hatred toward the Yeerks flared up, and I had to consciously suppress it. Who did they think they were? Jessie's dreams would be destroyed if they had their way. _Everyone's _dreams would be. I vowed to myself that I'd stop them, at least this time if never again.

By the time I was finished writing her back, it was time to go. I went downstairs to let my dad know I was going to be gone for a few hours.

"Hey dad, I'm going to grab a bite to eat at Burger King with Jake. Want anything?"

He grinned. "A knuckle sandwich sounds delicious." I had been right about my dad understanding why I'd been in a fight. He was weirdly proud of me for standing up for myself. That didn't keep him from making fun of me at every opportunity, though. I sighed, and asked him if he really wanted something or if he was just going to needle me over the fight for the rest of his life. Still grinning, he said, "No, I'm okay. Try not to punch anybody out, slugger."

I rode my bike to the meeting. It was only ten minutes away from my place, and we tried to avoid morphing unless it was totally necessary. I was the last one to show up – the girls were just sitting down with their food. Ax already had a pile of wrappers in front of him, and was looking stuffed. I got a burger and fries and joined them outside on the patio.

"All right," Jake said without preamble. "The tour starts at nine AM tomorrow. Question, comment, and suggestion time."

I started us off. "The Yeerks obviously have some level of control in the building. We don't know if they have their hands on everything, but it's a safe bet that everything along the tour is going to be Yeerk-controlled. We don't have the time to check everyone in the building out – we're just going to have to assume anybody we run across in there is a controller."

Ax nodded, albeit sluggishly. "That is a fair assumption. The Yeerks will not wish to leave anything to chance."

"The question is, what do we do about it?" Cassie asked. "We can't just bust in, randomly attacking people."

"No, we can't," Tobias said, but he looked troubled. "Although that would accomplish our goal."

"What _is _the goal?" Rachel asked. "I mean, besides keeping Yeerks out of those nerds?"

Jake shrugged. "I don't really know. Marco?"

"Look, all I know is we can't let the Yeerks have those three people. Like I said before, the only way I can think to do that is to draw attention to them. Cause a big enough scene that every camera crew in the area's gonna show up. But Cassie's right, too. We can't just bust in and randomly start trashing people. So…what? Wreck their equipment? Cutting the tour off as soon as it begins is the only thing I can think of."

Jake scratched his head. "I mean, unless someone's got a better plan, I guess we go in, hard and fast, right after the tour starts. If it's a big scene we want, right through the front door will be best. I guess we'll know who's a controller by who shoots at us," he said nonchalantly. "Then we go through the building, causing as much damage as possible, until the nerds bail out. I wish we had a better option, but it looks like this is it."

"Rachel-style," Tobias joked. "We're in trouble." Rachel threw a fry covered in ketchup at him, and Ax snatched it out of midair like Miyagi snatching the fly.

"There's a deli across the street," Cassie offered. "They have a closed-in dumpster area. It's probably the closest place we can morph to the building."

Jake clapped his hands, once, like he was breaking a huddle. "All right. That's the plan. We meet up first thing in the morning at the barn, then we get feathers and get into position. We don't know what the Yeerks are going to have waiting for us, so be ready for anything."

Even though this was my mission more than any of the others, I still had to play my part. "I'll just write out my will when I get home, then."


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

It was almost nine o'clock. We were all in the dumpster area across the street from Activision studios that Cassie had mentioned. It was a chilly morning, and everyone was shivering a little in our skin-tight morphing outfits. All except for Ax, who could withstand more cold than we could, what with his blue fur and all.

"All right," Jake said quietly, not quite whispering. "This is it. Once we start morphing, it's going to be fully on. This place won't be able to hide us." The only way there'd be room for us at all was if Rachel crammed herself in between the wall and the dumpster, pushing it out as she grew. Jake looked at all of us in turn, gauging our level of readiness. "Ready?"

Rachel slipped into place behind the big, green dumpster. "Let's do it," she said, and started turning gray.

I concentrated on my gorilla morph and felt the changes begin. My skin itched as course, black hair sprouted everywhere. I felt my skull thicken and my mouth protrude. I felt my gums grow to accommodate the enormous incisors that were now filling my mouth. My spine elongated, and the weight of my upper torso caused me to bend over like an old lady, knuckles on the ground. My muscle mass doubled, tripled, and quadrupled. When the changes stopped and I was fully gorilla, I looked around me.

My friends were all almost finished morphing, too. The dumpster was screaming as it scraped concrete, leaving huge gouges in the cement as it went. I guess the noise had attracted on of the café's employees, because a girl in a white button down with an apron on walked around to the front of the dumpster zone. Suddenly she found herself looking at a Siberian tiger, a grey timberwolf, and a Silverback gorilla. She might have been cool with that, I don't know. What I _do _know was she wasn't cool with seeing Tobias in his Hork-bajir morph and Ax in his own Andalite form. She ran, and I don't think her feet were even touching the ground.

With a huge crash, Rachel shoved the dumpster all the way out. (Let's do this!) she yelled, climbing the dumpster. We waited for her to get out and followed her as she barreled across the street toward the studio lobby.

I could see the four guards in the lobby blink in surprise as they saw the scene that was rushing toward them. The surprise turned to disbelief, and then quickly to panic. All four drew pistols, and I saw one of them mouth the word, "Andalites!" (Controllers!) I yelled, so my friends would know the guards were bad guys. I didn't have time to say anything else, because Rachel had reached the glass doors. They didn't even slow her down, and I felt the glass rain down on me as I followed her through.

Blam! Blam! Blamblamblam! The guards weren't waiting for us to attack – they had taken the initiative. Rachel trumpeted in anger as she was hit by several slugs, but nine millimeter hollowpoints were meant to stop unarmored humans, not a six-ton angry African elephant. I knuckle-ran to my left, where one of the guards had taken up position behind an overturned desk. I guess the desk weighed close to four hundred pounds – I threw it aside with one hand like it was particle board. The Yeerk inside the guard was brave, I'll give him that. He didn't even shake as he leveled the pistol at me. Before he had the chance to pull the trigger, a flash came from beside me, and all of a sudden the guard was holding nothing but the handle of his pistol. (Thanks, Ax,) I said as I landed a punch that would have put Mike Tyson into orbit.

(Let's go!) Jake ordered. I turned in time to see them charging deeper into the studio and ran to catch up. As she passed the front desk, Rachel used her trunk to sweep the computer monitors to the floor.

Through the double doors, deeper inside the building, I heard more gunfire, this time clearly automatic weapons. I burst through in time to see Jake roar in pain and climb the back of the man holding the automatic rifle. We were all fanning out, now, smashing equipment as we went. I stopped to rip a bunch of important-looking wires out of the wall.

(Hork-bajir!) Cassie yelled. Sure enough, through a side door, several Hork-bajir were whirling and slashing their way toward us.

(So much for wondering if this is a Yeerk facility or not,) I said as I ran to engage the closest of the Hork-bajir. I skidded to a stop sooner than he expected me to, and his wrist blade whizzed about an inch in front of my face. I took his elbow blade on my forearm, ignored the pain, and hit him with an uppercut. He hit the ceiling, then the floor, and didn't get up.

I caught a flash of blond hair, and looked up in time to see Jessie being hustled deeper into the building. I didn't hesitate – I took off after her. As I reached the door she'd been taken through, Jake yelled, (Wait up, Marco. We move as a group!)

I ignored his order and hauled butt through the hallway they'd taken Jessie. (They've got her, man! They have Jessie! I gotta get to her!)

Jake hesitated for a split second. (Cassie, Ax, go with him! Me, Rachel, and Tobias will deal with the Hork-bajir. GO!)

All of this was outside of my attention span. I was focusing. There were about ten doors in the hallway. (_Which one?_) I demanded of myself. (_Which freaking door?_) I almost yelled out for her in broad-band thought-speech, but Cassie cut me off as she ran by me.

(I've got her scent, Marco! She's wearing perfume! Let's go!) I tried to keep up as Cassie ran down to the last door on the left, and then waited for me to arrive to open it. I didn't bother with the knob, I just hit it so hard that it blew off of its hinges. We rushed into the room to see Jessie being held by two Hork-bajir. In front of them stood the only Andalite controller in existence – Visser Three.

He cracked his tail like a bullwhip, and Ax copied the move, letting the Visser know he wasn't intimidating us. (There you are,) Visser Three said happily. (We've been expecting you.)

I was frozen. Couldn't have moved if I wanted to. And I didn't want to – I didn't want to do _anything _to cause the Hork-bajir with his wrist blade at Jessie's throat to twitch.

(I'll take the Visser,) Ax said in private thought-speech. (You two can handle the Hork-bajir. They won't kill her.)

(Oh yes they will,) I said. (She's seen Hork-bajir and Andalites. They'll either kill her or make her a controller. One way or another, they are _not _letting her leave here a free person.)

(Attack!) Ax demanded. (If the girl is finished anyway, then occupy the Hork-bajir! Give me the chance to end Visser Three!)

I hesitated again – even though I couldn't see a happy ending for Jessie, I was paralyzed by the fear that I might do something to set off the Hork-bajir. Seriously, one twitch, and my girlfriend would be headless. The point quickly became moot as a side door slammed open, and about a dozen more Hork-bajir filled the room.


	20. Chapter 20

A/N – Sorry for the grammatical errors in the last chapter. I tried to fix them, but ffn likes to give me a hard time replacing chapters once they're uploaded. I'll try to avoid stuff like that in the future.

Chapter 20

The Hork-bajir that had entered the room were forced to hesitate as Jake and Tobias entered. Even though Rachel couldn't fit through the doorway, she lowered her head and made a new entrance. Visser Three's enjoyment seemed to grow as the standoff intensified.

(Oh good, you're all here,) he said. (I knew I could count on you to come. You see, I know you tried to sabotage the competition. Subtlety is not your strong suit. And now I have you.)

Jake snarled, then he risked speaking directly to Visser Three. He kept his thought-speech level and emotionless. (Let the human girl go, Visser. We are who you _really_ want.)

Visser Three made an eyes-only Andalite smile. (Certainly.) He motioned, and the two Hork-bajir holding Jessie let her go. I tensed up, looking for a way through the controllers to get to her. Before I could act, a Hork-bajir handed her a Dracon beam. She pointed it straight at me and smiled.

(Ha ha ha!) the Visser boomed. (You Andalites are so predictable! When I was informed of your attempt to hack my competition, I simply took these humans a day earlier. By this time yesterday, they belonged to me. As you can see, you walked right into the trap I set for you. Although _why _you would risk yourself for three humans is beyond me.) He seemed to think about this statement as he made it, his smile falling.

(And now we are here, Yeerk scum,) Ax said coldly, not giving him a chance to think about why we'd try so hard to rescue three people. (Shall we dance?) He flung his tail and cracked the air again.

Visser Three narrowed his main eyes at Ax. (You are always the one to threaten me. The others let you, even though you are just a child. I wonder what this means,) he mused. (No matter. I will give you the chance you so desire. Stand back!) he ordered his Hork-bajir soldiers, and they all took two steps back. (Allow myself and this Andalite infant space to engage, one on one. I grow tired of his bluster – now, the talking ends.)

(Ax, no,) Jake said. (We already failed at what we came to do. We need to get out of here.)

(I am sorry to disobey, Prince Jake. But I am sworn. This is my chance to avenge Elfangor – I would be shamed forever if I did not take it.) He stepped lightly forward and began circling to Visser Three's left, looking for an opening for a tail strike.

The Visser circled with him, and it _did _look like they were dancing, as Ax had said. I was barely paying attention, though. '_They got her. How can I get her back?_' I was running all kinds of scenarios through my mind, thinking of a way to make it out of here with her and starve the Yeerk out.

(Marco, I'm sorry,) Jake said privately. (Escape and evade is the new plan. They've got her, we're too late. I know how you feel, but _do not _do anything stupid. _Do not _risk the rest of us for this girl.)

He was right. Jake was right, no matter how bad it broke my heart to admit it. Our only chance now was to leave her as she was, and hope against hope that one day she'd be free. In order for that to happen, we had to live to fight another day.

My thoughts were interrupted as Visser Three struck first. FWAPP! Ax deftly knocked his blade wide, and stabbed with a strike of his own. The Visser dodged, and the circling continued. Now the Hork-bajir were cheering, like they were at a prize fight.

(I hear sirens,) Rachel announced. (Cops, probably.)

(I hear them too – definitely police sirens,) Cassie confirmed.

(We have to bail,) Jake said desperately. He didn't speak to Ax – he was afraid of breaking his concentration. The air between the two Andalites was electric. As we watched, one of Visser Three's strikes made in through Ax's defenses. As a line of blood appeared on his flank, Ax landed a strike of his own – a deep one.

(Arrg!) The Visser cried as blood spurted from a horrible laceration on his bicep. Now, some of the Hork-bajir could hear the sirens, too. And they weren't smart enough to not distract Visser Three while he was in the middle of a fight.

"Visser, _tagfrash _human _erckids _are coming!" one yelled. As Visser Three's concentration was broken, Ax landed another blow, this one to Visser Three's right front leg. As he jumped backward in an attempt to avoid more damage, Jake feinted like he was going to charge. Visser Three took another leap back, running into several of his Hork-bajir.

(Now!) he yelled at Ax. (Let's go, Ax! That's an order!) Ax looked torn for a split second, then turned to run with the rest of us.

(This isn't over, Visser! And I'm only going to increase in skill until the next time you see me!) he yelled behind him as we scrambled through the destroyed studio.

We made it back to our dumpster area about two seconds before the cops screamed around the corner, skidding to a stop in front of the studio. Ten or twelve officers poured out of their cars and into the building, and I found myself wishing they would catch them all. That they'd arrest Jessie, and put her in jail long enough for the slug in her head to die. I knew that was utterly stupid, that of course Visser Three wouldn't trap his forces without an escape, but I still hoped.

Even as we flew away from the scene of destruction we'd caused, I hoped. But I knew that hope was stupid. My _first _hope – the hope that I could have a semi-normal relationship – was stupid, too. No one said anything to me for a while. When the silence was broken, to my surprise, it was Rachel. I could tell from the tone of her thought-speech that it was a private message.

(For what it's worth, I'm sorry, Marco. It sucks. I _know _it sucks, because I want to have it, too. I never knew how important it was to me to have a normal relationship until the option was taken away from me. You may not have a girlfriend you can share your secrets with, but you've got me. And Jake, and Cassie, and Tobias. Even Ax will be there for you,) she said.

I knew it was out of Rachel's character to give me this kind of speech, and I knew I should be grateful. I wasn't. All I felt was dead inside. A dull ache that was making me feel doomed. Visser Three hadn't just taken my girlfriend – for the time being, he'd taken my _hope _away. I felt like a guy on a sinking ship.

If I could just be done with it, I would have been able to deal. But Jessie and I had built up a relationship before she was infested. Her Yeerk was sure to play that out, for appearances sake. And I felt like, if I had to talk to her, knowing what I knew, that I would die.

Rachel obviously was thinking along the same lines. (Jake tells me you've got a date with her later,) she said, and her words make the ache in my chest vibrate harder. (If you want, I can help you with that situation.)

I finally spoke. (How?)

(Loveline, remember?) she said, trying to joke. I guess she realized that there was no way I was in the mood, because she added, (Just…don't take off. Meet me at my house. I won't tell the others anything – it'll be just me and you handling this. And then you'll never have to deal with it again.)

A new emotion welled up beside my grief – gratitude. (Yeah. Okay. Thanks,) I said, peeling off of my course home and following Rachel. I felt like I couldn't be trusted to make my own decisions right now, that I needed to be told what to do. And Rachel was offering that.

Yeah, I was grateful.


	21. Chapter 21

A/N – Special thanks to nomadsland, iris129, and uncutetomboy for the reviews. Those of you reading and not reviewing, you also have them to thank for the new content.

Chapter 21

Rachel had offered to do it for me. She'd said I didn't have to see Jessie at all, that she could get her out of my life without me there.

I have no idea why I didn't take her up on it. Maybe I just wanted to see her one last time, to say a final farewell, as it were. Maybe I was just sick in the head and I wanted to torture myself. Lord knows I was beating myself up already for how close I'd let myself get to this girl in such a short period of time. '_Stupid, stupid, stupid. Why would you ever think something good could happen to you?_' I berated myself.

I sat in the mall, waiting for her. That was where we planned to meet. Then we were going to go across the street to the same Mexican restaurant as our first date. It was supposed to be our one-week anniversary, she'd said. '_How dumb are you? Even if everything were normal, can't you see how stupid the idea of a one-week anniversary is? Why? How did you let yourself get to this?_'

I knew the answer, of course. Everybody I knew was pairing up, from the Animorphs on down to random kids at school. I felt left out – simple as that. I'd seen an opportunity to catch up with everyone else, and I'd grabbed at it with all the desperation of a drowning man grabbing a life preserver.

Lesson learned. I'd never let anyone in again. I would never feel like this again, even if it meant keeping everyone at arm's length for the rest of my life. A fair price, one I'd pay a million times to make this feeling go away. The feeling of a lost future, of happiness vanquished before it had a chance to blossom. I'd never thought of myself as deep or romantic, but this kind of pain would make a poet out of anyone.

"Marco?" a voice broke me out of my thoughts. I looked up and saw Jessie. Not the Yeerk that I knew controlled her; just the girl. That was the hell of it all – how you could hate the slug and love the person. Separate them, even if they were inseparable.

I took a deep breath and steeled myself for what had to come. It actually made it easier, knowing it was just a play I was going to act in. "Sit down, Jessie," I told her, and I was pleased to hear no waver in my voice. "We need to talk."

The smile evaporated off of her face as she sat. Never in the history of relationships had those four words preceded anything good, and she knew it.

"That girl last week you saw me talking to? She wasn't just a friend," I said tonelessly. This lie was so hard to say, even though it was the Yeerk I was lying to. _Had _to lie to. "I thought it wasn't going to work out with me and her, but I was wrong. Sorry."

She studied my face. "Oh. Why did you lie to me last week about her, then?" she asked, unemotional. The Yeerk was going through the motions, but secretly had to be pleased at this turn of events. One less thing to complicate its life as it pretended to be Jessie.

"Because I thought I wanted to move on. To try something new. But I don't," I said. It wasn't hard to sound confused – I _was _confused. Confused about everything but what I had to do.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I knew it was Rachel, showing up right when we'd planned. "I'm sorry, too," Rachel told Jessie. "But he's mine." My heart leapt in my throat as she said those words – how many times had I pictured Jessie saying them in the past week?

Jessie gave first me, then Rachel, a cold glare. "If that's the way you want it. Sorry I wasted my time." She stood up to leave.

"I'm sorry, too," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. I mentally let go as she walked away, and an ounce of the depression I felt left me. Just an ounce, but at least it was something. It gave me a glimmer of hope that maybe, somehow, I'd get through this. When she was out of sight, Rachel took her hand off of me.

"That sucks, man," she said sincerely. "But it's over. The hard part's over."

"Yeah." Now that it was done, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I didn't know if I wanted to be around people or not. I _know _I didn't want to be alone. I didn't have to think on it long before the decision was made for me.

"Guys?" a timid voice from behind us. What was Cassie doing here? At my confused look, Cassie gave me an apologetic one of her own. "Sorry. Rachel told me this was where you were supposed to meet Jessie, and when I couldn't find her at her house, I thought maybe I could catch the two of you here."

"Okay. What's up?" Rachel asked. I could tell she was glad for the interruption – if I had to bet, I'd say Rachel was at the end of her rope when it came to being nice and supportive.

"Turns out we might get one more chance to put a damper on the Yeerks' plans," she said. "Tobias found out some interesting information, and Jake wants to act on it. Like, now."

A fierce enthusiasm ripped through me. Everything cleared up in an instant. The Yeerks were the root cause of my pain. We had a chance to hurt them back. I was in, big time. "Let's go," I said, a smile on my face that really didn't feel like my smile at all. "Let's get 'em."


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

We met in the air above downtown. Rachel, Cassie, and I joined up with Ax, Jake, and Tobias, and Tobias began explaining what had transpired.

(I stayed behind, just to see if there was anything worth seeing. I figured Visser Three would have a backdoor to the Yeerk pool, and I guess he did, for the Hork-bajir. All the cops came out of the building scratching their heads. I was about to go home when I saw Visser Three come out, in his human morph. He was being escorted by two cops.)

(Escorted how? Like a prisoner?) I asked. My mind was sharp, looking for ways to turn anything against the Yeerks.

(No, like friends,) Tobias said. (They let him in the back seat of their cruiser and took off. So I followed them. They didn't go far – they stopped at a park about eight blocks away. I figured I could get close without being seen, so I got down and hid in a tree over where they were talking. I overheard everything.)

My spirits fell. (It's just another trap,) I said wearily. (They could have talked anywhere – why a park, where any number of morphs could hide?)

(No,) Tobias disagreed. (They picked that spot because they're afraid. The three gamers they took? They're host bodies, slotted for the Visser's new lieutenants. Visser Eight, Visser Twelve, and Visser Thirteen. You know how all the Yeerk Vissers – or at least Visser One and Visser Three – are always at each other's throats? From the conversation I overheard, these three are totally loyal to Visser Three. The only ones he can trust – he secretly flew them in from the Yeerk home world and snuck them onto Earth, right under Visser One's nose.)

(Okay,) Rachel said. (That's all well and good, but we already tried to stop them from being infested by these Vissers. We failed.)

(No, we didn't! Just listen!) Tobias said edgily. (Sorry, I didn't have breakfast and I'm tired. Anyway, the Yeerks that are in the gamers right now are just regular old Yeerks. Bookmarks, just holding them until the Visser Three can get his guys into them. And I know where they're going to make the switch,) he said triumphantly.

(Let me guess – the Yeerk pool,) I said. It was the only place I could think of secure enough for the transfer of three high-ranking Yeerk Vissers.

(God dang it, I said listen! They're paranoid, especially after our attack. Visser Three can talk all he wants about laying a trap – and I'm sure he was _prepared_ for an attack – but he didn't really expect us to hit them. He was in a bad mood. Now they're on the lookout for both us _and _Visser One's forces. He knows that, given half a chance, Visser One would sabotage it. Visser Three, responsible for the loss of three Vissers at once? The Council would have his head. And from the way he was talking, he's way more worried about Visser One than us.)

(Good work, Tobias,) Jake said. (When and where?)

(Today. Visser Three is sure that we've had enough for one day. He thinks the cops scared us off. He's not worried about us. He's only got eyes for Visser One at this point, and he wants to do it in a place where it would be impossible for her to sneak up on him.)

(Where, Tobias?) Jake asked. I could tell he was trying to be patient, but I could see him licking his chops over this news. Jake took his job as leader of the resistance seriously, and he was already thinking about the effects that taking out three Vissers would have on the war effort.

(The forest, where the Yeerks cleared the land for their logging operation. About a mile from my meadow. They're going to try to put three Vissers into three humans right in our own backyard.)


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

We were all in position, but it was beginning to look like Tobias had it all wrong. The forest around us looked dead, other than a scattering of small birds and squirrels.

The log cabin that had once been Dapsen Logging Company was gone, but the land it had stood on was still cleared. The first pioneering saplings were beginning to poke through the barren dirt, but other than that, it was a football field-sized clearing in the middle of dense forest.

Tobias was perched in a half-dead pine, staying in hawk form and using his laser-sharp eyes to watch for any sign of the Yeerks' approach. I'd buried Jake in a pile of dead leaves – the orange of his tiger body wasn't suited for camouflage in this terrain. Cassie and Ax were in wolf form, somewhere, staying out of sight. Rachel had done her grizzly thing, and was in a small cave about an eighth of a mile away.

I had discovered, to my surprise, that my gorilla wasn't really suited to climbing trees. For one thing, I was too heavy for most of them – I'd stripped the lowest branches off of two trees before I found one that would support me. I'd gotten about two third of the way up with some difficulty, and Tobias assured me that I was completely hidden by the full, lush foliage. Now, we were just waiting.

(Something's coming,) Tobias said, finally. (Yeerk craft – I can see its cloaking device shimmering. About the size of a Bug fighter. No, two of them.) I heard the low whine of the engines before I saw the leaves on the forest floor start kicking up, like they were in a localized wind storm. As the craft set down, I saw two ships that looked like Bug fighters, but larger. I also noted the lack of weapons. The first one opened, and about twenty Hork-bajir swarmed out. Out of the other one, several Taxxons were disgorging. Visser Three followed.

(Fan out! Form a perimeter – I don't want a single Earth animal to get within fifty yards!) he ordered, and the Hork-bajir moved to comply.

(Jake, this doesn't look good,) Tobias said. (I count twenty-two Hork-bajir and seven Taxxons. That's a tall order.)

(Oh well,) Jake said. (We're already here – just let us know when it looks like it's about to go down.) His tone was like he'd just shown up to a party that wasn't as good as he'd expected, but he planned to stay for a bit, anyway. Despite myself, I thought it was pretty funny. Sometimes I thought we were getting _way _too used to fighting the Yeerks.

Two more Taxxons emerged from the second ship, carrying something that looked weirdly like a big telescope. They set it up on a tripod and started working on it, looking like they were adjusting knobs. Tobias called it in.

Tseew! A red Dracon beam stabbed into a nearby tree. (Holy crap!) Tobias yelled. (False alarm, false alarm,) he corrected himself quickly. (It was another hawk. Not one of us.) I tried to shimmy deeper into my tree.

(I hear engines,) Tobias reported. (Just one engine,) he corrected. About a minute later, he said, (I see it. It's a big, four-wheel drive truck. Looks like the hosts are inside.) I could see it now, too, and what he'd neglected to mention was the four humans in the bed, all holding fully automatic rifles.

(That is a _lot _of firepower,) Cassie said tensely from somewhere. I still couldn't see her or Ax, but that was a good thing. (I don't know about this, Jake. It looks like we'll be shredded before we can get close.)

Now the Taxxons were carrying something else out of the ship – it looked like a two big, metal suitcases. The leftmost Taxxon set his case down roughly, and Visser Three slashed him almost in half. SHREEE! it screamed as four other Taxxons fell on it, ripping it to pieces. (You fool! Careful with that!) he yelled, even though the offender was already dead.

Now that they were set up, Visser Three motioned the three humans, including Jessie, forward. Hork-bajir escorted them. (You three have done well, holding these humans for your Vissers. You will each be rewarded. But now, it is time.) A Taxxon popped the cases open, and I could see the sludgy liquid inside both of them.

(That's them!) I said. (The Vissers are in one of the cases! It's now or never, Jake!)

(It's suicide,) Tobias argued. (Too many Hork-bajir and Taxxons. We'll never get close.)

The first human, a guy, bent his head over the case on the right. I could vaguely see the slug drop out of his ear, and instantly, the guy began to thrash and scream. It had no effect – a Hork-bajir already had him in a firm grip. Jessie stepped up, and her slug wriggled out of her head, too. She immediately began yelling profanities as she tried to spin around and attack the Hork-bajir that held her, and I would have smiled at her spunk if the situation weren't so bad.

(Prince Jake, if we are going to attack, we should do it now, before the Vissers can inhabit their intended hosts.) I could tell he was still mad about not being able to finish his fight with Visser Three earlier.

As the third human took his place to leave his host, Jake made his decision. His words were heavy and meaningful, like he thought they were the last he'd ever say. (Our main targets are those cases. Destroy those Yeerks at all costs. Go!)

Saying a wordless prayer, I dropped out of the tree. I saw two wolves come tearing into the clearing from the opposite side, and heard the full-throated roar of North America's largest predator, the grizzly bear, off to my right. One of the Hork-bajir spotted me as I barreled toward him at full gallop, and he leveled his Dracon beam at me. "_Hruthin_! Andalite!" he bellowed, and I knew there was no way I was going to get to him before he pulled the trigger.

There was a blinding flash of light, and I was thrown backward. I had enough time to register pain before I realized that if I could still feel pain, that was a good thing. I tested my limbs quickly, found them all to be in working order, and jumped to my feet. I turned back toward the clearing, and saw one of the Yeerk transports blown to pieces and burning.

(It's Visser One!) Visser Three screamed as an uncloaked Bug fighter screamed overhead. (Shoot them down! Kill them! Kill them!) He was beyond rage, and as I watched, the Taxxon manning the telescope-looking thing swiveled it and aimed at the Bug fighter.

TSEWWW! A column of red light, ten times the size of a handheld Dracon beam, lanced out and hit the fighter. With another explosion that almost knocked me down again, the Bug fighter hit the trees and disintegrated, throwing flaming metal everywhere. (Yes! Yes! Watch the skies!) Visser Three screamed. All four of his eyes were pointed upward. He did not see the wolf as it leapt at full speed and hit his upper body, teeth-first. (Arrrrgh!) he screamed in pain as he slashed wildly with his tail.

I once again charged into the clearing. The shockwave from the exploding transport had disoriented the Hork-bajir, who'd been closer to it than I had been. Some of them were knocked out cold. No one stopped me as I reached the second case, the ones that had to hold the three Vissers. I flipped it over, and as the liquid seeped into the ground, I made out the shapes of three Yeerks. Splat! Splat! Splat! I stomped them all, and felt them explode under my heavy foot. I cannot describe how good it felt to kill them like that. I felt no pity for them, no remorse. '_How many people would they have killed, had they gotten into the hosts? Ten thousand? Ten million?_'

I spun to my next objective – Jessie. I caught a glimpse of her streaking into the woods. No one chased her – the Yeerks had more to worry about than a human girl, now. I could hear the roar of a second Bug fighter overhead, and I yelled to my friends. (The Vissers are down! Incoming Bug fighter! Bail, bail, bail!) I saw Jake sprinting out of the clearing, repeating my orders.

(Get out! Let's go! Go!) Jake was yelling. As I ran, I saw everybody getting the heck out of there. Behind me, another muffled WHUMP! and a wave of heat and pressure tossed me forward. I shook my head to clear it and kept going.

Once we were about a half a mile away, far enough to where Visser Three's enraged screams couldn't reach us anymore, Jake slowed down. (Everybody here? Everybody okay?) he asked, breathless. One by one, we all checked in. Everyone was injured, but we were all present. We ran for about another half mile before Tobias called down to us that it was safe to demorph. We did so, and even though we were all exhausted, we quickly got feathers and hauled bird-butt out of there. As we headed to the barn, I thought of Jessie. I didn't know if she had gotten away, though from what I saw, she'd gotten a pretty good head start. I didn't know if the Yeerks would be waiting for her at her house if she made it home. And the funny thing was, I wasn't even that worried about it.

Deep down, I knew she was smart. And if she was as smart as I thought she was, she'd disappear. Yeah, she'd be a fifteen-year-old on the run, but she'd be alive. Alive and free. I'd given her all I could – the best shot at freedom I could offer her.

Author's Note – We're wrapping up, here, but there's still a little more to come!


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

We all demorphed once we hit the safety of the barn, and there were a range of different emotions in the building. My mood was probably the best – once the Yeerks had gotten Jessie, I'd consciously let her go. I think it was just the thought of her being a controller that had me so down at first. And now I knew she'd have a fighting chance, since she was aware of what she was up against.

Just as much as that, though, I was still high from killing three Vissers of the Yeerk empire. It was easily the biggest victory of our battle career. Visser Three was going to have a _lot_ of explaining to do. Ax said there was a good chance the Council of Thirteen, the body that governed the empire, would order his execution. I wasn't so sure about that. I had a feeling we'd be seeing more of him.

On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, Cassie seemed to be in a deep depression. She wasn't all the way with us. It took a couple of tries for you to get her attention, and even then, she wouldn't say much.

Ax was a little disgruntled that he'd failed to finish off Visser Three for a second time that day, but it was balanced by his delight at Visser Three having to pay such a high price on the day. Tobias was mostly quiet, but there was a tone of confidence in his thought-speech. He had no doubt we – I – did what needed to be done. Rachel was at least as amped as I was. She had a soldier's heart, and she knew what this win meant for us.

Jake looked like he was torn between being proud of the victory and being sorry for the price it had cost. I was pretty sure if Cassie wasn't there, he'd have been celebrating. He knew how she felt about stuff like this, though, and he wasn't going to rub her face in it.

"All right. I guess we should all get home and get some rest. First, though, anybody got anything?" Jake asked with a hint of expecting to be sorry he asked.

"This is huge," Rachel said. "Who knows how much we set them back today? We trashed a major source of income and got rid of three extremely high-ranking Yeerks. Not to mention freed the game dweebs."

(If Visser Three wanted our heads before…well, it just got extremely personal,) Tobias pointed out. (Those were the Visser's boys we took out. His inner circle.)

(Yes,) Ax agreed. (The way in which they were…dealt with…will infuriate him to no end.)

"'Dealt with?'" Cassie asked in a flat voice. "Why don't you call it what it was? An assassination." She shot me a look that I couldn't easily fathom.

"Call it what you want," Jake said. "I call it necessary. It sucks, but it had to be done." Cassie looked at him like she was mad about him not taking her side, but said nothing else.

I felt like I had to settle up with Cassie, now. I didn't want any lingering resentment toward me for doing what all of us should have been able to do. The Yeerks had us completely and totally overmatched - we couldn't _afford_ to play by the rules, and she should know that.

"I agree, Cassie," I said, and for a split second, she must have thought I was apologizing. "It was an assassination. It was cold-blooded. It was murder, if you like that better. But you know what? We can't always play fair, because this isn't a game. There's not a rulebook. It's life or death, every time we go after them. So don't you sit there and judge me for something that I had no choice but to do."

(I do not understand,) Ax said to Cassie, and I could hear in his tone that he was confused. (You don't approve of Marco's method? Would you have preferred to wait until they were inside of a human to kill them?)

She glared at him. "I'm not saying it wasn't necessary. I'm saying I hate it. The fact that we have to do things like that makes me sick. And I don't care what you guys think about me, but do not _ever_ ask me to do something like that. Because I won't. I'll fight, but I won't murder something helpless."

"Helpless?" I yelled. "They're not helpless! They flew halfway across the galaxy to victimize us. They have forces and weapons that make our little group look like a big joke. Just because they weren't inside of another creature's body does _not _make them helpless. You need to understand what we're doing this for, because I don't think you get the big picture." Jake stood up and put a hand on my shoulder, trying to calm me down. I shrugged it off. "By all means, we should be killing every Yeerk we run across. Because every Yeerk we leave alive is one more friend or relative they're going to take from you. You'd better understand that." Rachel looked like she wanted to give me a hallelujah, but didn't dare. She wasn't oblivious to the pain her best friend was feeling.

Cassie started to tear up, and despite myself, I felt bad. Her voice was strong when she replied, though. "I _do_ understand, but I'm not like you guys! I can't murder, no matter how necessary it is. I don't have it in me!"

"Nobody expects that from you, Cassie," Jake said quietly, calmingly. He didn't add, "We'll be here to do it for you." I knew he was thinking it, though, because Jake knew better than any of us what was at stake. He understood that when it got bad, you couldn't ride the fence. You had to throw in, and you had to throw in all the way.

Everybody left to spend the rest of the weekend with their families. Even Ax and Tobias had each other for company. Nobody left feeling as good as we should have, but the job got done. That was the important thing.

Tomorrow was Sunday. I felt like it would take the whole day to recover from all the trauma of the week. Hell, I needed a month, but getting a whole day to myself was something of a rarity nowadays, and I was looking forward to it.

Bottom line – I had handled business. No matter what Cassie or anybody else said about it, I'd do it again and again. It was what it was going to take for us to stand a chance.

A/N – One more chapter, I think, maybe two, then we're all done. Thanks again to everyone who reviewed. It really got me through this fic. If you're not too busy, drop me a line and let me know how you think I did. Thanks.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

As I walked in to my first period class on Monday, I found myself hoping that it would go better than last Monday had. I shared the class with Cassie, and as I entered the classroom, I saw her standing by my desk.

'_Great_,' I thought. '_She's going to try to make me feel bad about the way I handled the Vissers._' I knew she was way too smart to bring it up in public, but I expected a pointed remark or comment, at least. I threw my bag on top of the desk and waited for her to say something. In retrospect, I shouldn't have been surprised at what she said, but I was.

"You doing okay? You had a rough week. I called around to see if anybody had heard from you yesterday…I was worried when they said they hadn't." With anybody else, I would have thought that this was just an icebreaker to get into another conversation. I could see genuine concern on her face.

"Yeah, I'm good," I said, and as I said it, I realized that I actually _was._ I had gone down to the convenience store yesterday and called Jessie's house. I'd dropped my voice and asked for her, and her dad immediately demanded who I was and what I knew about his daughter's whereabouts. I hung up and hurried away from the phone, just in case the Yeerks were watching the calls to her house. I had gotten what I needed – I knew she hadn't gone home. That was important, and it was enough to tell me that she knew not to go home.

I'd realized that more than anything, I'd just been feeling lonely. Jessie was great, but I barely knew her. I had overreacted because I'd gotten too close to something. Thankfully, there were no big consequences for my indiscretion, so I was able to take it as a lesson learned and move on. Now Jessie knew about the invasion, and she had a couple steps on the Yeerks. That was better than we were able to do for most people, and I was satisfied with it.

Cassie was studying me, searching for a sign that would contradict what I was telling her. I grinned, and decided to put her mind at ease. I turned around to where a girl named Kaylyn was pulling out her things for class.

"Hey Kaylyn, I'm sick of this game," I told her, and she looked at me in confusion. "I can't ignore all the flirty looks anymore. So fine, I'll go out with you. Meet you at the movies at, say, seven o'clock?"

Her confused look turned into contempt. "Yeah, right, dweeb. Keep dreaming."

"Oh, I will," I said. "I'll keep dreaming of _you_." I looked at Cassie as if to say, 'See? Back to normal.' She laughed and went to sit down, shaking her head.

Author's Note – Thanks to everyone for riding this out with me! It was fun. So much so, I'm going to start on another similar fic right away, one that also follows the trend of the original series. Be on the lookout for The Weapon. And even though this fic is finished, I would appreciate if you'd leave me your thoughts on it in a review. That way, I can improve on the new fic! Thanks again.


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